Banzai
by Krayzee Aussie
Summary: T'Challa seeks out a new warrior to add to his Dora Milaje, but she is both cunning and secretive. When he eventually finds her, not only must he overcome her reservations, but those of his people. This story is set in CA:CW, slightly AU. This is the prequel to Forgotten, as this story progresses that story will be updated where needed. Hopefully not much! LOL
1. Chapter 1

**Alrighty!**

 **This is the PREQUEL to the fic called 'Forgotten'**

 **For those that have read that already, sorry, it's about to be updated as this story moves along.**

 **For those that haven't probably don't read that story any time soon ehehe**

 **As always, Marvel and anything so related does not belong to me...much to my chagrin**

 **oOOo - signifies a change perspective/new paragraph**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

The Wakandan Prince set foot over the landscape that spread below him. It was mountainous and rugged, covered with thick vegetation that left barely enough room for a wild cat to roam amongst it.

He would, however, be hiking through the forest with 2 of his toughest Dora Milaje. He had heard rumour that the person he currently sought was residing within a mountain village closest to the summit of the mountain before him. The village, which was said to be one of the few still practicing witch doctoring, also had rumour of having its own protector.

He had received Intel of a local drug cartel that wished to farm its drugs in the region due to its remote locality and rich soil, utilising the village as both farmers and mules, but there was stories told of the drug cartels 'intimidators' being sent back either permanently injured or near dead.

The story, while interesting, seemed to fall in line with other stories he had been following in recent years across the globe. From the thwarted kidnap attempt of school girls in Africa, to rescuing allied nation troops and aid workers in the Middle East, the description was all the same. A dark haired woman, with speed that made her almost impossible to hit, strength greater than any normal man and skills with twin swords.

Nakia looked up the mountain path, before glancing sideways at T'Challa. "Sire, are you sure?"

"We will soon find out," he answered, moving to the path. Nakia fell in behind him while Okoye moved to walk before him, using a machete to clear the path.

It took them three days and nights of trekking and rough nights camping on the mountain path before they began to see signs of life. T'Challa noticed several fresh tracks, leading away from them. They appeared to be children's tracks, with an adult close by.

"It appears someone is tracking us, sire," Okoye murmured, moving closer to the Prince. He glanced over his shoulder, looking to the direction she was watching, trying to make out any definitive shape amongst the trees, unsuccessfully.

"Do not engage them," T'Challa warned, continuing on his way. He had a feeling he knew who it was.

As they approached the village, a group of men awaited them. They were dressed in basic clothing that had clearly been mended several times. And they were all holding spears.

A squat man at the head of the group stepped forward. "Who are you? Why have you come?"

T'Challa stepped before Nakia, who was standing defensively before him as the man had stepped forward. He raised his hands to show he meant no harm. "My name is T'Challa, I have travelled far in search of the protector of your village."

The men glanced sideways at each other, but their leader frowned. "I am the protector of this village, what do you want?"

T'Challa frowned, from the body language of the leader's men, it was clear that they knew who he was talking about and it was not the man that stood before him.

"I apologise, sir, I seek the one they call Banzai." There were murmurs behind the leader, causing him to turn and look at his men severely.

He turned back to T'Challa. "Banzai is nothing but the name of a legend, a legend created to keep our village safe from outsiders who would mean us harm."

T'Challa saw Nakia look to Okoye and frown, clearly they thought the leader was clutching at straws. T'Challa thought quickly. "This story intrigues me, might I learn more of this legend?"

The villagers looked at each other in surprise, obviously they had not experienced inquisitive visitors such as them. A man stepped forward to the leader and whispered something in their own language in his ear. He nodded once, before stepping sideways. "Come, T'Challa, it would be best for you to speak to our witch doctor."

The men parted, the leader walking through them, T'Challa quick to follow while his two Dora Milaje trailed cautiously behind him, followed by the rest of the villagers.

They were led through the village. Children and women stared at them as they passed by, some women grabbing their children and holding them closer, warily. T'Challa could see in their eyes, they were fearful of these strangers, and wary. Those eyes had seen threats before.

They were led to a small hut in the centre of the village that was decorated with colourful feathers and animal hides. The village leader motioned for T'Challa to wait and entered the hut, before returning soon after. He motioned for T'Challa to enter.

He strode inside, with his two Dora Milaje close behind, their hands close to their weapons. It was dimly lit inside and smelt strongly of a multitude of incense, with a small fire burning in the centre, it's white smoke disappearing through a small hole in the roof.

"Welcome visitors," a husky voice said from a corner of the hut. All three spun around, on their guard. A small, elderly woman stepped out from the corner. She was wearing a shaggy animal fur, had white hair and her face showed many scars. She also wore red and white ochre paint on her face with colourful feathers entangled in her hair. "You fear me?"

T'Challa motioned for his two female soldiers to relax their hands from their weapons before stepping before the woman. "My apologies, we were not sure what to expect."

The woman narrowed her eyes, before shrugging. "I am told you wish to know of our legends?"

"Not just any legend, one in particular," T'Challa answered, watching as the woman hobbled away. "I seek the one known as Banzai."

He heard the woman scoff and laugh. He glanced at his two Dora, who furrowed their brows, concerned at the witch doctor's reaction. They had travelled far with him, hearing recounts of the one known only as Banzai. They sounded more and more unbelievable every time.

T'Challa often doubted whether this was a good idea. His Dora Milaje were traditionally to be his wives-in-training. He had no intention of marrying any of them, but they were his guards and it was expected of him to take one with him on his travels by his father.

It was his plan to find the one known as Banzai, and convince her to become part of the Dora Milaje. The story of the woman fascinated him. He had told his father he was only looking to become accustomed with the world. But his journey had been far more than that.

He hadn't told his existing Dora Milaje his entire plans. He felt that Nakia, in particular, had a jealous streak. Okoye seemed very much indifferent, happy to be honoured with being chosen to serve as Dora Milaje, but still kept his plans to himself.

"Banzai was a story created to protect the village from outsiders that might mean us harm," the witch doctor said, before sitting on a cushion before the fire. She motioned for T'Challa to sit across from her, which he did. "The legend of Banzai tells of a young woman, given to the world as a gift from the gods, to right the wrongs against the people by evil spirits. She goes where she is needed, never staying longer than necessary. She is said to be blessed with speed, agility, strength and beauty unlike any mortal being."

"This gift from the gods," Nakia said, a slight sneer appearing on her face. "She sounds as if she is too scared to show herself to the world." T'Challa glared at Nakia.

"Indeed," the witch doctor replied, a cunning smile appearing on her face as she looked up at Nakia. "Because she knows the nature of man. She knows that the world of man would seek to use her as a weapon for their own purposes. That is not something the gods would wish."

"So Banzai, does not exist?" Okoye asked, looking from the witch doctor to T'Challa, with a raised eyebrow.

"She is but a legend to protect us," the witch doctor said, the slightest tone of amusement in her voice. "She has done well until this point."

T'Challa chewed the inside of his cheek, he still doubted the truth of the tale spun by the witch doctor, but it would seem they would get no answer from the villagers of the truth surrounding the one known as Banzai.

 **oOOo**  
The witch doctor was about to speak again when one of the village men came running into the hut, looking alarmed. He spoke to the witch doctor in their native tongue, before exiting quickly.

"What is it?" Nakia demanded, placing a hand on her weapon, a wary expression on her face as she glanced at T'Challa. He raised a hand, motioning for her to remain calm.

"We have had problems with organisations from the capitals of surrounding nations. Quickly, we must hide you," she hissed, motioning for them to follow her.

"We are warriors, we do not hide," Okoye stated plainly, unmoving.

"I'm sure you are, but these men carry weapons that shoot metal rocks that burn and destroy flesh with the greatest of ease," the witch doctor retorted crankily, as she motioned for them to follow her.

"I apologise, but we will not hide. We will help your men," T'Challa said, standing and moving to the door.

He opened the door and found the men of the village were gathered before the hut, their spears raised and ready.

"What are you doing?" the village leader hissed, turning to see them. The other village men looked from one another to T'Challa with concern and fear in their eyes.

"We will assist you," T'Challa answered simply, moving to stand before them.

"We do not need your help, stranger," he retorted as Nakia and Okoye moved to stand behind their Prince, weapons drawn and ready.

The other men eyed them and their weapons nervously, but before more could be said, several armed men appeared in the distance, running up the hill. There had to be at least 20 men.

T'Challa was currently unarmed, although he wore his armour beneath his normal clothing. He looked to one of the villagers beside him, who held a spear and a spare strapped to his back. He held out a hand, motioning to the spear in his hand. "May I?"

The villager looked to his leader, who frowned but shrugged, before he handed it to T'Challa. It was a good enough spear, the balance slightly off at the tip. He took his aim carefully, before hoisting it over his shoulder, bringing it back so the point was by his head and thrusting it forward.

It flew from his hand, soaring through the air silently, before embedding itself into a man who appeared to be carrying the largest weapon. The man fell backwards, landing in a heap further back down the pathway into the vllage.

"A good shot, sire," Nakia praised, while Okoye smirked smugly, showing her own pleasure at her Prince's aim silently.

The men that ran towards them faltered, looking at their fallen comrade, who clawed at the ground as he tried to get up. It was no use though. The men turned, raising their rifles and began to fire.

"Take cover!" Okoye shouted to the villagers that stood behind them. They scattered, a few falling as they ran. Nakia threw one of her two Vibranium rings, it whistled as it slipped through the air, before it sliced through several of the weapons carried by the hostile men.

The men stared at their weapons as Okoye caught her comrades weapon as it flew past her, before tossing it back to her. The men stared at the two women who now faced them. Both wore armour, each a different colour, although Okoye looked far more fierce than Nakia, with her shaved head and more intimidating build and height.

Okoye carried a spear as well as a blade for back up, she often left the initial attack to Nakia with her rings just so she could keep her weapon close at hand. Hand to hand was her specialty.

The men finally gathered their wits and ran at the two women and Wakandan Prince who stood before them, those with operational weapons still, firing at them, while those without, pulled out large machetes and ran towards the villagers.

T'Challa and his Dora Milaje quickly moved to cover, although they all wore armour, it was not full bodied and completely impenetrable. T'Challa looked up and saw the village men trying to fend off the intruders.

"We must protect the villagers, Nakia, can you unarm these men of their guns. Even the field," T'Challa ordered, looking back to the smaller of his bodyguards.

"My pleasure, sire." She peered around the corner of the hut they were taking cover behind, before throwing her rings one after the other. Within moments there were shouts of either pain or surprise.

"Allow me," Okoye said with a smirk as Nakia was about to run out and retrieve her weapons.

"Don't be such a hog," Nakia muttered in annoyance as Okoye ran out before her, quick to follow. T'Challa took their distraction as an opportunity to run to the village men, beginning to defend them as best he could while carrying no weapon of his own.

He ducked and weaved as a hostile man swung at him with his machete, before quickly disarming him and then disabling him quickly.

He saw the village leader being attacked by two men and quickly moved to assist him. He ran forward, disarming one before blocking the attack of another. As he blocked the attack, the injured villager shouted something in his native tongue, pointing behind T'Challa.

T'Challa turned, to see a rather burly man hoisting an extremely large axe above his head and was about to bring it down upon him. He brought his arms up to try and offer himself some protection, crossing them before him, confident the armour he wore beneath would prevent any real damage, ducking his head.

 **oOOo**

As he waited for the impact of the blow, he was surprised to see a dark shadow cross in front of him, with a clang of metal meeting metal.

He looked up, to find a svelte figure that he could have easily confused for one of his Dora Milaje, if had not been for the long black hair that was pulled back into a high ponytail or the tanned skin that was several shades lighter than that of his wives-in-training.

"Banzai!" he heard the village leader exclaim in surprise.

T'Challa lowered his arms, staring at the woman before him. She held her swords crossed before her, holding the hostile man's axe at bay, before sliding one sword out from beneath his axe and slashing it across his chest, causing him to pull back in pain, she then used her now loose second sword and slashed him across his thighs.

As he fell back, she turned back to look at T'Challa and he was taken aback by her eyes. They shone a golden-brown, and as she narrowed her eyes at him, he felt as if she gained an animalistic aura.

He had no time to think about it, as they were attacked again, his Dora Milaje joining them. T'Challa saw Banzai throw a sword, embedding it deep into a man's chest, before running forward, pulling the sword from his chest before he had even hit the ground and using it to block another attack.

They made short work of the intruders, those that could leave with their lives doing so with haste. T'Challa soon turned his attention to the woman, Banzai, as she strode over to the village leader, kneeling down to see to his wounds with the witch doctor, who had now emerged from her hut.

"You are the one they call Banzai?" he asked, moving to stand behind her, his two bodyguards falling in behind him quickly.

She didn't respond, instead working fastidiously to assist the witch doctor.

"My Prince speaks to you!" Nakia growled, moving to step before him, only to be stopped by a hand from T'Challa.

"He may be your Prince, but he does not command me," Banzai replied to the Dora bodyguard, without looking up. Her voice was even and calm, her Australian accent subtle. She glanced over her shoulder, looking at T'Challa and then her gaze sliding to first Nakia and then Okoye. "What do you want?"

"I seek your skills," T'Challa responded quickly. "Many stories have been told across many continents of your skills and abilities, I wished to see them for myself."

The woman sighed, handing a bandage she held in her hand to another of the villagers, before standing and looking at T'Challa, her face portrayed her annoyance. "Don't beat about the bush, you want something of me, what is it?"

T'Challa gave a small smile. He motioned for them to walk. She narrowed her eyes, but began walking slowly. Nakia moved to go with them, but T'Challa stopped her. "Assist with the treatment of the villagers."

"But sire -" she began to object. He looked at her pointedly and she withdrew, bowing her head slightly. As she turned to walk away, even he could not miss the deathly glare she gave to the Australian woman's back. Okoye followed her, without so much as a word or a backward glance.

 **oOOo**

T'Challa walked alongside Banzai, who walked with a distance between them, clearly on guard of him. She wore a simple set of well-worn, black fatigues, her two swords strapped to her back in a cross shape. "You have amazing skills and abilities, greater than any woman I've ever seen."

"Compliments will get you nowhere, what do you want, T'Challa, son of T'Chaka and Crown Prince of Wakanda?"

T'Challa was taken aback by her apparent knowledge of him. He quickly composed himself, stopping to look at her. "I would like you to join me in protecting my country. We are a small nation, but we have resources that others would seek to gain control of, and I cannot allow that."

"Are your current militaries and Black Panther that incapable?" she asked bluntly, narrowing her golden-brown eyes at him. He furrowed his brow, her knowledge of his home and its forces concerning him for a moment.

"I see you have much knowledge of Wakanda?"

"I like to know who is trying to track me," she retorted, beginning to walk again.

He stared at her retreating back for a moment, before hurrying to catch up to her. "Wait, you knew?"

"You may be a prince, but tracking is my specialty, and I have my own sources of Intel." She stopped again, looking at him severely. "Speak plainly, what do you want from me, T'Challa."

He sighed, thinking carefully of his words before answering. "I want you to join my personal guard."

Her eyes narrowed to a deathly glare, which had T'Challa falter slightly. "The Dora Milaje are your wives-in-training and hold an honoured position, bringing great honour to their tribes while also offering protection to the future king." He was stunned, once again, at her knowledge of his tribes traditions. "I refuse to be part of such a thing."

"I have no plans to marry any of the Dora Milaje, if you must know," he replied dully, looking away. It was a stupid tradition, one he would have been glad to be rid of, if he could.

When he looked back to her, she had her head cocked to one side, as if analysing him, her eyes softer than before as she considered him. "Do they know that?"

He bit his lip, looking to the ground for the moment. He had not told anyone, because he knew it would be met with contempt from all of those around him. He tried to keep his distance from all the members of the Dora Milaje, giving them equal attention so none would feel slighted.

Of all of them, Nakia had the most obvious jealous streak, and Okoye was the most indifferent to him, happy to protect him in whatever way he needed.

He looked back at Banzai to see her looking sympathetic, although it was fleeting, her severe look quickly returning to her face. "I cannot join you, I have business to finish, to ensure the safety of this village."

T'Challa frowned, looking past her to the village. He wondered why she was so intent on protecting the village, there were many other small and primitive villages like it throughout the world. He looked back to her, to see her looking back to the village herself. The look in her eye showed him one thing. Regret. For whatever reason, she felt the need to protect the village due to regret.

"Very well, then allow us to help you," he replied firmly, before beginning to walk back towards the village.

"Wait, what?" she exclaimed as he pushed past her.

"We will help you," he said as she leapt in front of him to stop him in his tracks.

"No way, this is my task," she argued, putting a hand to his chest to stop him.

"Surely a second set of hands make for light work," T'Challa reasoned with a raised eyebrow as he looked down at her hand. She quickly withdrew it upon realising, as if the contact with him burned.

"Sure, a second might, but if I'm not mistaken you've got another two sets over there that go where you do," she retorted, motioning to the two Dora Milaje who were waiting patiently in the village.

T'Challa could see Nakia was fuming that Banzai had the nerve to lay a hand on him, but it would seem Okoye had told her to refrain from intervening, by the way she stood before the shorter guard.

"They go where I tell them to. If I wish them to return without me because I am under the care of my new guard, they shall not argue," he explained, folding his arms in front him and giving her look of expectation. "Banzai-"

She pursed her lips in a thin line, gritting her teeth, before she rubbed her temples in frustration. "T'Challa, you aren't going to let this go, are you?"

"Do you know how many years I have been tracking you?"

"I'm well aware," she said with a sigh. She turned and looked back to the village again. "And it's Vielka. Corporal Vielka Patterson. And I can tell you already, Nakia doesn't like me."

He grimaced slightly, he was well aware that bringing Vielka into the Dora Milaje was going to bring forth a whole new set of problems, but he also knew her skills would prove to be a great asset. "She will learn to respect your position."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Dora Milaje reserved for those of the 80 odd tribes within Wakanda?" she asked as she slowly started making her way back to the village, her eyes not leaving his two guards who waited ahead.

"Once upon a time. A lot of the tribes have since folded or merged as our nation advances, the Dora Milaje numbers now dwindle to a handful," he looked to Okoye and Nakia, a sense of pride as they stood tall upon their approach. "Okoye and Nakia are my two fiercest Dora."

"I don't doubt that," she replied as they stopped before them. T'Challa noted that Nakia still held daggers within her eyes at the Australian woman. "I need to prepare and speak to Adami."

 **oOOo**

Vielka moved through the low hut, the men of the village that had been injured were being tended to by the women. They all bowed to her slightly as she shuffled through, seeking the feathered head of the witch doctor.

She soon found her at the back of the hut, bent over the village leader. "Adami, it's time for me to leave."

"Is this because of that man?" she asked, peering up at her through her tousled hair, her wise brown eyes showing no hint of surprise at Vielka's words.

"Partly, but I'm going to solve your problem with the cartel once and for all," Vielka replied, looking down at the village leader's injuries.

"Will you not return to us?"

"Not any time soon."

Adami frowned, but stood, opening her arms to the taller woman.

 **oOOo**

T'Challa and Vielka were soon traipsing through the streets of Paraguay, they dodged the vendors who called out to them, or the men who tried to grab Vielka, drawn by her looks that were exotic to them.

They soon sidled into a bar, finding a small table in the back, away from the regular patrons. She smoothed out the khaki shirt she wore over her usual fatigues, her hair loose and flowing down around her face, repositioning herself slightly and careful to keep her swords well hidden.

"Is your Intel strong?"

"It seemed pretty strong as I was cutting off his finger," she murmured in reply as a bartender approached. T'Challa raised an eyebrow as she placed an order in the native tongue, debating to himself whether or not she was being honest or joking.

"You don't take any prisoners, do you?" T'Challa whispered as he eyed the other patrons of the bar. There were many different types there, from the regular man who was stopping in after work, to the dodgier looking men who glared at the strangers.

"On the contrary, much like your wives-in-training, I prefer to maim. Rarely does death come by my blade anymore."

Once again, she surprised him by her knowledge of Wakanda's customs. The bar tender returned with their order, before disappearing back to the bar.

They sat quietly, just watching their surrounds, before Vielka sat forward, her eyes unmoving. "There..."

T'Challa turned to see where she looked, to see a heavily tattooed man with a shaved head. A distinctive tattoo on his shoulder that T'Challa recognised as a gang tattoo. "I see."

"Now, if only we could get him to lead us home," she murmured, watching as he left. They were both quick to their feet, following the man from the bar.

The streets were beginning to quieten as they silently followed their target. He lead them to a large house with heavy gates and high walls all around it.

"Why would a man, such as he, be coming to a residence, such as this?" T'Challa wondered aloud. He turned to see Vielka stripping off her khaki shirt, tightening the swords at her back and retying her ponytail.

"Why don't we go and ask him?"

Before he could say anything, she had dashed across the road as the night sky darkened above them. She was silent as she disappeared into bushes by the high brick walls. T'Challa was quick to strip from his own khaki shirt, to reveal his black armour beneath. He quickly joined Vielka, where she was watching a camera that swung overhead, as if analysing it.

"Should we disengage it?" he whispered, but she held up a finger, before jumping to a nearby tree and then onto the wall. He watched as she quickly fidgeted with the camera before waving down to him.

He quickly followed her path, joining her on top of the wall, before they both dropped down to the shadows.

They skulked through the shadows, occasionally disarming and disabling guards as they went. As she had said, she was careful only to maim anyone she crossed paths with, never striking a lethal blow.

Within half an hour of their initial entry onto the property, they had made it upstairs. Not a single shot had yet been fired at them, as they had the element of surprise. Vielka stood poised at a door, listening. She narrowed her eyes slightly, before slowly opening the door.

T'Challa silently followed her in, she had her swords drawn as she crept towards the bed. He could see several forms asleep in the large bed, both freezing as one of the forms stirred.

Vielka moved to one side of the bed, as T'Challa moved to the other, knife in hand.

Vielka held one sword at the ready, while with the other hand, she tapped the base of a lamp on the bedside closest to her, flooding the room with a dim light. The occupants of the bed all stirred, looking around groggily.

T'Challa was disgusted to see an older man in bed with not one, but five women, all naked.

"What is the meaning of this?" The man demanded, reaching for one of his pillows. Vielka was quick to smack his hand with the side of her blade, looking at him pointedly as he withdrew his hand in shock, the five women all shied away in fear, trying to cover themselves with the blankets and sheets. Vielka slid her sword under the pillow, knocking a hand gun to the floor.

"Mr Guiterrez, isn't it?" Vielka asked, cocking her head to one side, a questioning look on her face.

"Who are you? What is this?" he demanded, looking from her to T'Challa.

"Courtesy call, from the Aché," she stated plainly, she looked to the women, before motioning towards the door with her head. "I think you should consider your service rendered, ladies. Go on."

The women quickly ran from the room without a backwards glance. T'Challa looked back to the man, Vielka now had her sword at his neck. "Up you get, champ."

"Who do you think you are?" he demanded, but she pushed her sword against his neck a little tighter, and he was quick to oblige to her request.

T'Challa moved from the side of the bed to follow her as she led him to the balcony window. She kicked open the door, ushering Mr Guiterrez outside.

"Not cold, I hope?" she said as she forced him outside. T'Challa did his best not to smirk, clearly he was.

"Who are you, what do you want?" he began to shout loudly, but no one was going to come for him. They had made sure that no one would hear, or be able to assist.

"Oh, you should know who I am, I sent many messages, but apparently you ignored them all. So I came to deliver the message personally," she said, removing the sword from his throat. Then, to T'Challa's shock, she bent down quickly, grabbing Mr Guiterraz by one of his ankles and hoisting him over the railing of the balcony.

"No! Wait!" T'Challa exclaimed, moving forward. Vielka held her sword pointed at him, giving him a warning look, before looking back to the man she now dangled over the railing. To T'Challa's amazement, she seemed to hold him easily.

"Please, please! Pull me in!"

"What? You want me to do something for you? That's not like when I asked you to leave the village of Aché alone, is it?" She called down to him.

"What?" Mr Guiterraz exclaimed, arms flailing below him as he swung precariously.

"I asked you several times, I sent your men back, one after the other with a message, leave Aché alone, did you listen?" Vielka hissed. She then glanced at T'Challa, grinning malevolently. "Oh my," she said, feigning a yawn. "I'm getting awfully tired." She lowered the man slightly, causing him to panic further.

"Wait! Yes! I got the message! I will leave Aché alone! Please! Stop her! Pull me up!"

Vielka wrinkled her nose slightly, before lifting him back over the railing easily. She dumped him onto the balcony unceremoniously, before crouching to glare into his eyes.

"If I find out you or your men have set foot inside Aché again, I will be back, and you will never forget the name Banzai. Understand?" she whispered in a deathly quiet voice that gave even T'Challa goosebumps.

"Yes! Yes!" The fat man sobbed.

 **oOOo**

Several days later, T'Challa escorted Vielka to a private plane that awaited them at a small airport. Her face was sullen as he turned to allow her to board before him. She wore her black fatigues, her swords carried in her hands and with only a large pack of her gear.

"It will be a 14 hour flight today, sire," the air hostess said, as he was seated across from her.

"As expected, has my father been notified of my return?" He asked as the pilot offered to secure Vielka's swords, to which she bluntly refused.

"He has," the hostess replied slowly. "He does not seem pleased, sire."

"As I expected."

He saw Vielka narrow her eyes at his response, before she nonchalantly turned to look out the window of the air craft.

They had been flying for a couple of hours when Vielka finally spoke to him, taking his attention from the laptop he was currently tapping away on. "So, I take it you hadn't spoken to your father of your endeavours?"

"Not exactly," T'Challa answered after hesitating for a moment, considering her as she pursed her lips together. "Does this concern you?"

"I don't want to be anywhere I'm not wanted, there are others out there who might welcome my presence better," she replied stiffly, looking back out the window. T'Challa pursed his lips. He would convince his father one way or another that Vielka was indeed a necessary addition to his guard.

While he considered her for a moment, he thought perhaps he should try to pry some more information from her. "I'm curious, as to how you came to be of such an amazing skill set?"

She turned to look at him slowly, her golden-brown eyes seeming to pierce through his skull with a deathly glare. "You expect me to believe you don't already know most of that?"

T'Challa pursed his lips. He did know most of the story, but there were many gaps to his Intel. "I am aware of your service to the Australian military, and to your current listing of MIA. I am not aware of how it is you came to be, I'm afraid."

She blinked, but her gaze never left his. "Let's keep it that way."

He chewed the inside of his cheek as she turned back to look out the window, considering if this was indeed, a wise decision after all.

* * *

 **xo**

 **Krayzee**


	2. Chapter 2

**Decided to get through a few chapters this week, because I can!**

 **So one thing i forgot to stress in the first chapter blurb that i usually put - If you like this story, great! If you don't, don't read it. I don't write for likes or reviews, its just the way I am. I write for me, I find the content is WAY better when I write for my own enjoyment, so don't be all flaming shit if you don't like it, because you will literally only be making a dick of yourself.**

 **And that there is also some friendly advice to all those younger writers out there... do it for yourself, not for the likes, follows and favourites.**

 **And with that... let us continue**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

Vielka's eyes roved the tarmac as the plane pulled up to a stop where several vehicles were waiting near a very large hangar. She easily spotted a small contingent of people awaiting them down there, recognising the two female guards she had met in Aché.

She pursed her lips, seeing the shorter, sullen one, already dreading the welcome she would receive. The hostess soon joined them, notifying them it was permissible to start departing from the plane.

"Come, Vielka, it is time we introduced you," the Wakandan prince said, standing and offering her a hand. She looked at it for a moment, before she turned, gathered her swords, pack and stood, looking coldly at him. He seemed perturbed for a moment, before turning and walking from the craft, Vielka ambling after him in her own time.

She was only half way down the stairs as T'Challa reached the waiting party, first greeting his father and then his stepmother. Vielka recognised them both from her own research about the Wakandan nation. She also did not miss the quick, but appraising look Ramonda gave her, noting the slightest curl to her lip, unsure whether it was a good nature or something more sinister.

She slowed her stride, watching as he spoke to both his parents and his sister, before they all turned to look to her. She narrowed her eyes, but continued down the stairs of the plane, stopping before them.

The Wakandan queen looked her up and down, as did his sister. She knew why, she was another female, with the air of an alpha position previously, and she was intruding on their pack.

She didn't have time to dwell on it, as T'Challa motioned for her to stand next to him. She stopped beside him, before the King, noting the minor resemblances between the man and his son.

"Father, this is Corporal Vielka Patterson, also known as Banzai. And it is my wish that she would join the Dora Milaje," T'Challa said, standing straight and confident. Vielka looked to the King, he was a tall burly man, not quite as tall as T'Challa anymore, but she was certain when he was younger he would have had quite the intimidating presence, although it still existed even now.

"Hmm." He considered her for a moment. "What right do you have to request that a mere mercenary be given such an honoured title?" The King demanded, looking to his son with an air of annoyance.

Vielka narrowed her eyes, and was about to speak out of turn, when T'Challa held a hand up to stop her. She bit her tongue, but kept her eyes narrowed, sure to show her displeasure.

"Vielka is no mercenary, she works only for those who require her help, or where she feels she is needed," T'Challa answered, his voice even and calm, a distinct contrast to how she currently felt.

The King, T'Chaka, raised an eyebrow at his son, before his glance slid back to her. She kept her face emotionless, sensing that the King was perhaps testing her. "We shall discuss this further, come."

 **oOOo**

T'Challa led Vielka through the palace halls to one of the guest bedrooms closest to his room. His stepmother suggested it unwise to bunk her with the other Dora Milaje, until she was approved by the King, as well as being well aware of some of the Dora's jealous streaks.

Trailing close behind them was Okoye and Nakia, who had now taken back their duty of keeping the prince safe.

Nakia wore a sullen glare on her face, T'Challa noted, as he glanced over his shoulder. Okoye, as always, appeared indifferent, seeming unperturbed by Vielka's presence in the slightest.

T'Challa stopped before the doors to the guest room allocated for Vielka, pushing them open easily and stepping back, allowing her to pass. She glanced sideways at him, before setting foot inside. He quickly followed, motioning for Okoye and Nakia to wait outside the door, careful not to close it for the sake of properness. The last thing he needed was rumour or conjecture to spread amongst the palace at this time.

He wasn't sure what reaction he had expected from Vielka, but it was certainly not the lacklustre response he received. She looked around the room once, before dumping her pack on the floor unceremoniously. He noted how carefully she placed her swords onto the table in her room, before turning back to meet his gaze. "Is there anything else you need of me?"

"Not at this stage. I will discuss with my father further what it is he wishes of me, to allow you to join the Dora Milaje." He heard a soft scoff from behind him, glancing over his shoulder to see Okoye glaring at Nakia, before looking back to meet Vielka's golden-brown eyes. It appeared she hadn't missed the reaction from Nakia either.

 **oOOo**

That night, Vielka sat by on the balcony of her room, looking out over the palace grounds. Stretching out before the palace grounds was miles of jungle, animals called into the dark night, making her feel quite comfortable.

Her room was large, way too large. She had always felt more comfortable in small spaces, there was nothing like the comfort of nine men and herself cramped into the back of a Bushmaster on patrol.

She wasn't going to complain though, knowing far better than to do so, the bed was large and soft, the room providing her more than enough comfort. She didn't expect to be around that long at this point anyway, not with the King's initial response to T'Challa.

She stood quickly when she heard a knock at the door to her room. She was not expecting anyone tonight, T'Challa had already been to see her and bid her goodnight. Wary, she picked up a sword from the table as she walked towards the door, unsheathing it silently before opening the door slightly.

"Your majesty?" Vielka said in surprise, finding the queen, Ramonda, standing before her.

"Good evening, Vielka, might I come in?"

Vielka was hesitant, before swinging the door open wider, turning and sheathing her sword as Ramonda entered the room behind her, shutting the door.

Vielka saw Ramonda eye the now sheathed sword in her hand, before meeting her gaze. "I see you struggle to trust those around you?"

"For good reason," Vielka replied.

Ramonda raised an eyebrow, but did not ask Vielka to elaborate, instead moving to sit at the table. "Are all your needs being met?"

"With all due respect, majesty, speak plainly, what is it you want?"

Ramonda considered her for a moment, her face serious as her eyes roved Vielka's face. She leaned forward, linking her fingers beneath her chin as she narrowed her eyes at Vielka. "I want you to succeed."

Vielka furrowed her brow in confusion, staring at the Wakandan queen. "Excuse me?"

Ramonda leaned back on her seat, a small smile gracing her lips. "I think you would be a perfect addition to the protection of the Wakandan Prince. While these women are great warriors, you have other experience that they lack, and I sense you would fight for other reasons?"

Vielka raised an eyebrow, but said nothing else.

"I have spoken to the King, I believe you will have one chance to prove yourself, but it will not be easy," Ramonda explained.

Vielka shrugged before speaking finally. "It never is."

 **oOOo**

Vielka trailed along behind T'Challa, the two Dora behind her. She could feel the shorter ones eyes, boring into her back. The jealous streak of that one was going to get her in big trouble one day.

T'Challa led her into the throne room, where his father was sat upon the throne, his wife in a smaller one beside him, T'Challa's younger sister stood to one side, while his uncle and other dignitaries stood close to the front of the crowd of gathered Dora Milaje and tribal heads.

Vielka kept her eyes on the King sitting on his throne. Today was the day that T'Challa put forward his proposal before the royal court and the Dora Milaje. Personally, she just wanted to have a bit of fun, but if she could leave an impression on these women around her, perhaps they would back off too. She had to contend with their glares whenever she moved about the palace, which of course meant she didn't, unless T'Challa requested her presence, and even then, she did it begrudgingly.

As they stopped before the throne, T'Challa bowed his head, but Vielka did not. There were murmurs all around them as Vielka stood straight, looking straight at the King, careful to keep her face indifferent.

T'Chaka stood, causing a hush across the court of attending people. "T'Challa, you bring into our kingdom a stranger, you request that we allow her to join the Dora Milaje, but she is not one of us, she belongs to no tribe. Why do you believe she needs to be part of our adored ones?"

T'Challa stood straight again, and Vielka could sense he was nervous. "Father, I believe the Corporal possesses many skills that could prove useful as a bodyguard."

"He has no less than 30 Dora Milaje, how many more guards must he need?" One of the dignitaries murmured loudly, clearly not trying to keep his comments to himself or those around him.

T'Chaka held up a hand to calm the murmurs that followed.

"Perhaps I can offer a solution?" Queen Ramonda spoke up, standing from her throne. T'Chaka and T'Challa both looked to the calm looking queen. She walked towards T'Challa and Vielka, the latter giving a small smile. She knew the queens plan and was adamant that she would fulfil the requirement. "A test."

"A test?" T'Challa and T'Chaka both asked in unison. Further murmurs spread throughout the room. T'Challa glanced from Ramonda to Vielka anxiously, but Vielka simply smiled.

Ramonda turned to look at the gathered Dora Milaje who stood waiting patiently to one side of the room. "If she wishes to join the Dora, should she not prove she has the strength and ability to do so?"

More murmurs filled the room as the Dora all glanced at one another. Vielka looked to the King, who appeared contemplative, before speaking. "And what kind of test would you have in mind?"

"Two, actually." Vielka faltered slightly, she had not agreed to two tests, only one. She stared at Ramonda. "The first, the Dora Milaje. The four best of our adored ones, against the Corporal."

"That hardly seems fair," T'Challa began to argue, but Vielka stepped forward.

"I accept that challenge," she replied, without so much as meeting T'Challa's gaze. "What is the second test?"

"Pass the first, and you will find out." Vielka screwed up her nose slightly, she hated surprises.

"Very well, T'Challa, choose your four best Dora Milaje," T'Chaka ordered, before returning to his seat.

 **oOOo**

T'Challa stood before his 30 Dora Milaje, Ramonda standing beside him. "This is not a fair fight," he muttered, looking sideways at Ramonda.

"You're right, you had best choose your best, or I will for you, T'Challa," she replied, not meeting his gaze. He looked over to where Vielka stood, her swords strapped to her back, his sister Shuri talking to her, possibly trying to offer advice, he hoped.

"What were you thinking?" T'Challa hissed to Ramonda, who raised an eyebrow and looked at him severely.

"You bring this stranger into the kingdom, request that she join the Dora Milaje, and then doubt her abilities?" A small smile danced upon Ramonda's lips. "Choose your four, T'Challa."

Something about her words was curious and he wondered if perhaps he misjudged her intentions. She seemed strangely confident in the Australian woman. He glanced at Vielka again, who was now staring at him impatiently, her golden-brown eyes shining in the light of the throne room, her arms folded across her chest.

He turned back to his Dora Milaje and was thoughtful for a moment. "Nakia, Okoye, Nailah and Zola."

The four Dora stepped forward, drawing their weapons as they moved to stand in a line before Vielka.

"You have chosen well, T'Challa. We have our four adored ones, let us begin!" Ramonda said, clapping.

T'Challa watched as Nakia immediately moved to attack Vielka, before she had even drawn her swords. Vielka flipped backwards quickly, drawing a sword as Nakia threw one of her rings. There was a clang as Vielka easily batted it away with her sword.

She landed, just as Nailah ran towards her, her spear poised to stab at Vielka. She easily dodged the pointed end, kicking back at Nailah and forcing her backwards, before she was forced to block an attack by Zola, bringing her sword up quickly to block the solid woman's scimitar.

Zola shoved at Vielka, who drew her second sword from her back, to block Okoye's attack. She ducked another ring thrown by Nakia, before rolling to avoid a swinging arm by Nailah.

This continued for a while, T'Challa's heart in his throat as he watch Vielka continue to duck and weave the attacks from the four Dora Milaje. All around him, the Wakandan natives cheered on the adored ones, although the other Dora Milaje watched their sister warriors keenly, yet quietly.

He turned his attention back to the battle at hand. Vielka had now disarmed and disabled Nailah, who struggled from her position on the floor, a disgruntled look on her face as Vielka flipped away from another lunge by Okoye.

Vielka landed, sheathing both of her swords, before diving forward at Nakia, who charged at her alongside Okoye. Nakia was taken aback by Vielka's assault, hesitating as she tried to read the foreigner's attack, only to have Vielka roughly tackle and then throw her like she was nothing but a rag doll. Nakia landed heavily a short distance away.

T'Challa stared at Vielka as she stood. She was not panting, her face resolute, as she drew her swords from her sheath again, now facing both Okoye and Zola who were both armed with spear and scimitar, respectively.

Okoye and Zola both lunged for her simultaneously, Vielka easily blocking their attacks. As T'Challa watched on, he noticed that while both Okoye and Zola appeared to be tiring, Vielka was not. Her face was determined, yet focused. He also noticed that while Okoye and Zola fought well as a team, Vielka was outdoing them easily.

She was not putting in her all.

Her movements were quick, deliberate and concise, but as he watched he was certain she was holding back. He was mesmerised by her movements, it was as if she knew their moves before they did, it was as if their blows were light taps to her.

She spun low, avoiding Zola's scimitar, before taking out her legs with a sweeping leg of her own and then slipping her sword in between her arms and flicking the scimitar from her hands easily, sending it flying through the air.

Zola looked up from the ground, eyeing Vielka nervously as the fight halted, Okoye unmoving, as Vielka's sword was pointed at Zola's neck.

Vielka stepped away from Zola, spinning one of her swords tauntingly, her eyes now on Okoye, who stood poised with her spear pointed at Vielka.

The throne room was silent, as the two women stood poised to strike, but waiting to see if the other would first. Okoye finally leapt forward, crying out as she tried to stab at Vielka. She easily dodged her strikes, ducking and weaving, flipping or blocking Okoye's attacks.

Okoye brought her spear downwards, Vielka stepping sideways to avoid it, but Okoye spun the spear in her hand, and Vielka was forced to duck quickly, trying to spin her swords as she did so, to target Okoye. It was then that Okoye leapt into the air, swinging her spear down and around as she spun herself.

The spear caught Vielka on the shoulder, causing her to hiss in pain and falter slightly. Okoye capitalised, aiming a punch at Vielka's face, sending her flying backwards to land heavily.

T'Challa gasped, moving to step forward, but his sister halted him, looking at him pointedly. He stopped, instead watching with bated breath to see what she would do.

Vielka pushed herself up, and to his surprise, as she lifted her head he saw she was smiling. She got to her feet, picking up one of her swords that she had dropped as she landed. She touched her lip, seeing blood and smirking.

T'Challa furrowed his brow, something about Vielka's reaction was somewhat disturbing. He glanced to Okoye. She was panting, the effort of a long battle evident on her, but her face was determined as she watched Vielka, who spun her swords challengingly, the smirk still on her face.

Vielka ran at Okoye then, charging forward with both swords held out to her sides. Okoye charged forward to meet her, her spear poised to strike. What happened next left everyone stunned. And none more so than T'Challa.

As Vielka charged towards Okoye, she was quick to sheath her swords, so quickly the average man may not have seen her do it. She slipped beneath Okoye's spear, it glancing off her shoulder, and she caught Okoye about the chest, a hand reaching up and grabbing her roughly around the neck.

She then used her speed and momentum to force Okoye backwards, flinging her down to the ground with a sickening thud, Vielka skidding to a stop a short distance away.

T'Challa gaped, she had just beaten Okoye, undoubtedly one of his toughest warriors, while unarmed and within the blink of an eye. And she appeared to have barely broken a sweat, moving to look to the King as the room stared at her in disbelief.

"It would seem that we may have underestimated you, Corporal," T'Chaka said finally, as he stood. Vielka smirked, before turning and walking to Okoye, who now sat up tentatively.

T'Challa watched with interest as Vielka offered a hand to Okoye, who glanced from her to her hand, an unsure look crossing her usually indifferent features, before taking the hand offered to her. Vielka easily helped her to her feet, Okoye bowing her head slightly, before limping to join the rest of the Dora Milaje.

She moved to stand beside T'Challa, who glanced in concern at her shoulder, which still bled. He turned back to face the King. "She has passed the first test, father. I request she seek treatment before we continue."

T'Chaka looked to Ramonda, who leaned over to whisper something in his father's ear. T'Challa narrowed his eyes at his stepmother, he was not sure of what her game was, but it made him uneasy, especially when his father raised his eyebrows and seemed to smirk.

"Agreed, Shuri, take the Corporal to have her wound treated," T'Chaka ordered, raising T'Challa's concerns further. He watched as Shuri motioned for Vielka to follow, to which she obliged with only a sideways glance at T'Challa.

Once she had left, T'Chaka stood, moving to stand at the very front of the platform upon which his throne sat. "The next challenge will see the stranger battle our very own, Black Panther."

T'Challa stared at his father, as the whole room erupted in excited applause and murmurs. He stepped towards his father. "Father, no, I do not agree," he began to argue.

"And why not?" Ramonda asked, looking to T'Challa with raised eyebrows. He narrowed his eyes at her as she continued, standing and walking towards him. "If you want her to stand by your side, then she must be able to stand before our strongest warriors. Black Panther is our strongest warrior."

T'Challa glared at her, as she smiled. "Do not worry, T'Challa, she will be well prepared, I'm sure."

With that, Ramonda strode from the room, leaving T'Challa to wonder what she truly planned.

 **oOOo**

Before the sun had begun to dip below the mountain ranges that surrounded the palace, T'Challa was led back into the throne room by his Dora Milaje. He was now dressed in his black armour, his Black Panther helmet held under his arm as he strode in.

The waiting throng of people parted to allow him through an excited murmur rippling through the room, as the Dora Milaje stopped, splitting their ranks to allow him to pass.

What awaited him, was unexpected.

Vielka stood before him, her arms folded across her chest, looking rather unimpressed by the pomp around her. She no longer wore her plain black fatigues, but had been dressed in an all black armoured bodysuit, not dissimilar to his own. It showed the curves of her body, and carried the same sheen as his own, telling him that it too, was made of Vibranium. Her swords were strapped tightly to her back, as he expected.

She raised an eyebrow as T'Challa approached, clearly not expecting him to be the one they called the Black Panther.

T'Challa, likewise, was intrigued by the armour she was now dressed in, glancing at his sister and stepmother who stood side by side atop the stairs. Ramonda gave T'Challa a knowing smile. It would seem that she had been gunning for Vielka to succeed this whole time.

He stopped before Vielka, watching as her own eyes roved over his armour, her eyes stopping at the helmet he held at his right hip. "You carry no weapons?"

He held up his left hand, exxtending his fingers and causing claws made of sharpened vibranium to slip out from within the armour.

She smirked, giving a slight nod before looking back to T'Chaka, who stood overlooking the exchange.

"The battle is set. The rules are these, this battle shall commence and only end when one of the combatants admits defeat or I call for combat to cease," T'Chaka announced. There was the sound of excited murmurs and movement all around them as the dignitaries tried to crowd closer, only to be kept back by the Dora Milaje who created a human barrier in the shape of a large ring. "Prepare yourselves."

T'Challa lifted his helmet over his head, carefully sliding it down over his face, until it sealed with a click. He watched as Vielka cocked her head first to one side, then to the other, as if analysing him. The movement vaguely reminded him of a cat, sizing up a toy, or its prey.

He stretched his fingers, easing his Vibranium claws out from the gloves of his suit.

"I should apologise before we begin, Corporal," he said, causing her to furrow her brow. "This may hurt."

She scoffed lightly.

T'Chaka looked between the two, before shouting. "Begin!"

T'Challa was quick to move to the offensive, rushing forward to attack Vielka. She leapt backwards, blocking his well aimed punch, before ducking another. He kicked out at her, and she lithely dodged it, before returning the favour.

He leapt back, before moving forward to strike again, this time poised to attack her with his claws. Vielka brought up her arm, the Vibranium claws glancing off her armour and leaving her looking slightly alarmed at the sparks that issued from the clash.

She flipped backwards, landing at a crouch and looking at her arm in wonder. T'Challa waited patiently for her to stand, giving her a moment to regather herself.

"I see your little nation has a few secrets," she said, looking from her arm back to T'Challa. She glanced at his claws, before reaching back and unsheathing one of her swords. "Very well, let's get serious, shall we?"

T'Challa stood ready, as Vielka made her charge at him. There was the sound of metal clashing upon metal as the struck at each other, either blocking, weaving or striking out at one another.

The force of her strikes was quite surprising to T'Challa, although his armour was strong, he could feel the reverberations as her swords would glance off or strike at him. He was thankful for the enhancements the armour offered, because her speed was uncanny.

He ducked the slash of both her swords, crouching low, before leaping upwards and leading with his right, claws poised to strike.

He caught Vielka across the cheek, causing her to step back. He used the opportunity to aim a well placed kick into her mid section, but to his surprise she blocked it easily.

She narrowed her eyes, before dropping low, a foot sweeping below him, taking his foot from underneath him. She then moved to bring her two swords down upon him, the first he blocked, but the second broke through his guard.

He kicked out at her again, this time connecting and sending her flying backwards. She landed heavily, rolling several times, before sliding to a stop. He was quick to his feet, keen to see if she was alright, but he needn't have worried.

Vielka flipped back to her feet easily, looking at him pointedly, a small smile crossing her lips. "Oh, now it's on."

She ran at him again, but her attacks changed. They were faster, stronger and much more vicious. Try as he might to block and counter her attacks, he could feel himself being forced back, her swords striking blow after blow upon his armour.

As she spun low, slicing her sword across the mid section of his armour, he felt a sharp pain. Stunned by the sudden pain, he faltered slightly, giving her an opening which she took, kicking at him and knocking him backwards.

He landed heavily, rolling away and trying to stand quickly, only to feel more pain in his mid section. He looked down, seeing his armour had been breached and he bled from his torso.

Before his shock could fully register, he felt the pressure of a sword against his neck.

"Enough!" came T'Chaka's booming voice. T'Challa glanced up to his right, to see Vielka looking down at him with a blank expression, a strange glassiness to her eyes. "The Corporal has breached the Black Panther armour."

There were gasps all about the room, hushed murmurs also beginning to spread throughout the room, as Vielka withdrew her sword from T'Challa's neck, sheathing them slowly as she looked back to the King and queen.

"Sorry," he heard her murmur under her breath, without looking at him as the Dora Milaje hurried forward to check on the Prince.

He held up his hand to halt them in their tracks, as the slice was not deep, before removing his helmet and looking to Vielka. "It is nothing to be sorry for, I know now that my armour is not impenetrable, it is a lesson well learnt."

 **oOOo**

The room was soon emptied of its spectators, leaving only the royals behind.

The King, Ramonda and Shuri strode down the stairs towards the pair, Shuri walking straight to her brother to inspect the wound. "Wow, brother, I never thought I would see the day."

T'Chaka looked to Vielka, standing before her with a serious expression on his face that T'Challa could not read. It made him nervous.

"Why is it you wish to join the adored ones?" he asked, staring her straight in the eyes.

"I go where I am needed, sir," she replied simply, not perturbed by the steely stare of the King.

"You believe we need you?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

Vielka took a deep breath before continuing. "I've seen much over my time, I've come to learn that things tend to happen to me for a reason. There is a reason why the Wakandan Prince is the only one who has managed to track me down in my self-enforced exile, something has brought me here for a reason."

T'Challa raised his eyebrows. So that was why she agreed to go with him.

T'Chaka looked from Vielka to T'Challa, glancing at the wound in his abdomen. "You have proven you are a force to be reckoned with, but how do we know you can be trusted, now knowing you are capable of beating our champion?"

T'Challa moved to speak, to defend Vielka, but it is Ramonda who spoke first. "I think her purpose is clear." She stepped forward, her eyes glowing as she looked at Vielka. T'Challa furrowed his brow in confusion as Ramonda moved to stand before Vielka, placing her hands on her shoulders. "Behind every strong man, is an equally strong woman. Vielka should be the one to stand by the Black Panther, to protect him."

T'Challa and T'Chaka both looked at Ramonda incredulously, while Vielka raised her eyebrows, clearly surprised at the suggestion by the Wakandan woman.

"Protect?" T'Chaka asked in confusion.

"She has proven not only is the Black Panther not invincible, but that she herself knows his limits. Who better to be his personal guard?" Ramonda replied simply, looking back to the King with a knowing smile.

Vielka tried not to show her amusement at their reactions. Clearly Ramonda's suggestion was not something that would have ever been considered, but Vielka could see the common sense in the suggestion. She had indeed seen T'Challa's weaknesses and exposed that he relied on his armour's Vibranium strength too much.

T'Challa finally met her gaze, his eyes soft as he looked at her, it made her uncomfortable and she looked to the floor quickly. "I believe this is an arrangement I can agree with," he said firmly.

Vielka looked back up to meet T'Challa's gaze, furrowing her brow, seeing a small smile spread across his lips.

She pursed her lips but looked back to the King. "If that is what you wish, I would be happy to oblige."

The King also nodded, a pleased smile crossing his face. "Very well, for now, you should both go and seek medical aid."

They both nodded to the King before T'Challa led Vielka from the throne room.

They walked in silence for a moment, before T'Challa spoke. "If we are to be partnered in battle, then perhaps we should train-"

Vielka interrupted quickly. "That won't be necessary, I am an adaptive fighter. My job is to guard you."

She saw T'Challa narrow his eyes at her from the corner of her eyes, but did not meet his gaze. She didn't need to train with him to protect him, she was already well versed in protecting others.

That night, Vielka sat in her room, looking over her old fatigues. They were well-worn, holes evident in many areas, some from fighting, others just from her travels in general.

She didn't have need for many other clothes in her travels, nor did she often carry much money, so tended not to waste her coin on the unnecessary.

Ramonda had seen to it that Vielka was provided with an assortment of clothing, including the native dress of the Wakandan nation, which naturally she had balked at, blatantly refusing to wear them. It was impractical. She was currently dressed in a comfortable set of sweats and a hoodie, as she prepared to sleep.

She looked back to her old fatigues. Now it would seem, that she had no need for the items. Perhaps ridding herself of the fatigues would also help her rid herself of her past.

She snarled at herself slightly. No, nothing would rid herself of what she had done and been privy to, that would always be a burden she would carry. At least here, perhaps, she would be safe for a while. And she had a purpose.

She picked up the garments, throwing them into a rubbish bag and dumping them into the bin.

 **oOOo**

It had been two weeks since T'Challa had battled with Vielka. He would see her every day, either having a meal with her, or going out of his way to visit her in her room. She barely left it, citing that she still felt the burden of rage from the Dora Milaje.

T'Challa wondered if it was something else that bothered her though.

Ramonda had seen to it that all of Vielka's needs were met, and even some that weren't. To make her feel more comfortable, she had ensured that some western styled clothing was sourced for her, so she would not be forced to conform to their own dress.

Shuri was also spending a lot of time with Vielka, although, T'Challa wasn't sure that she actually welcomed his little sister's company, often seeing Vielka with a rather annoyed look on her face when ever Shuri was present. It was evident that Shuri idolised the Australian woman, drawn to her strength.

T'Challa had been informed that his new armour was ready, as was the prototype for Vielka. He had personally seen to the plans, with Ramonda also looking over his shoulder, occasionally and offering her opinion.

He approached her bedroom door, knocking softly.

"Yes?" Came Vielka's voice. He carefully opened the door, motioning to Nailah, who accompanied him today, to wait outside. She nodded once, before turning her back to the door.

T'Challa stepped inside to see Vielka sitting on the balcony, coffee mug in hand with her swords unsheathed on the table before, a whetstone resting beside them. "Good morning," he greeted, moving towards the balcony door.

"Good morning," she replied, although there seemed to be nothing to her voice that indicated it was indeed 'good'. "What can I do for you?" she asked, bringing her coffee cup to her mouth.

"Actually, I was hoping I could do something for you today," he replied, leaning against the door frame, his hands in his pockets.

Vielka halted her cup at her lips, turning her head slightly too look more directly at T'Challa, a wary look about her face. She eventually continued to drink from her cup, before placing it back on the table and picking up a sword and the whetstone.

As she slid the stone along the blade, he couldn't help but appreciate the casting sunlight that slid across her face as it rose over the mountains. The sunlight highlighted the pronounced cheekbones and jaw line of the Australian woman's face, and seemed to illuminate her dark hair.

"Well, how do you plan on doing that?"

"I have had a gift prepared, but I require you to attend with me to receive it."

She narrowed her eyes at him, and with the sun reflecting off the glass of the doors back into her face, her golden-brown irises shone brightly and eerily. "What's your game, T'Challa?" she demanded.

He raised one eyebrow but kept his face indifferent. "There is no game, Corporal, but I do believe this will prove to be a necessity for you."

At his words, she finally showed some interest. "Very well," she said finally, as she sheathed her sword.

* * *

 **xo**

 **Krayzee**


	3. Chapter 3

**So here's the thing, I like to try and keep my updates going in such a way of keeping my fics on the first page of the archive, right? So many updates of other stories have been coming through, I'm having to update everyday.**

 **Not that I'm complaining. I love updating good stories :P**

 **xo**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

Vielka trailed behind T'Challa and Nailah, giving the Dora Milaje her space to do her job. After all, Vielka was only there to protect the Black Panther, it was the Dora Milaje's duty to protect the prince and King when required.

She looked around with mild interest as T'Challa led her outside, opening the door to a small aircraft that awaited them. She furrowed her brow, feeling slightly confused as to where on earth it was T'Challa could be taking her, but continued to follow.

T'Challa flew the small aircraft away, to a large facility that sat high on one of the mountains, a good twenty minute flight from the palace. As they landed, Vielka looked out the window to see the facility stood high above the Wakandan jungle, spying a young tiger skulking through the undergrowth, seemingly unperturbed by the aircraft. It was an interesting contrast to the obviously high tech facility that spread out before them.

T'Challa motioned for her to follow him again, this time Nailah following up the rear.

"Where are we, T'Challa?" she asked as they walked toward the entrance to the facility, Vielka with her swords in hand. She looked up at the large facility. It was easily a few storeys tall, with large windows that looked out over the jungle.

"This is a facility I had built to house some of our finest scientists and doctors. They spend their days developing new vaccines, researching our greatest asset and its uses as well as working on new technologies to further our economy and trade."

"I thought Wakanda was an isolationist country?" she said with mild surprise as he led her inside the building.

"We still offer trade to some countries. As it stands we currently have some of our relief aid workers in Lagos."

Vielka nodded, mildly impressed. From what she had seen, although very technologically advanced, the country's politics and beliefs were still very much primitive. So to see where they were still keenly developing their technology and science was providing some great insight to her.

He led her further inside the facility, into a lift. She noted by way of the buttons, that the facility went down as well as up. It appeared that there were at least five floors below the ground floor. She made sure to ask of them at some point.

Once the elevator stopped, T'Challa led them out, into a large lab area. She looked around with mild intrigue, seeing what appeared to be weapons, armour and many other interesting items. There were men and women in lab coats or military fatigues also moving about the room, some handling the weapons while others holding clipboards seemed to be taking notes and observations.

She furrowed her brow, before glancing sideways at T'Challa, seeing a small, smug smile on his face.

"T'Challa. What is this?" she asked as he began walking into the lab.

"Come," he said offering her a hand. She glared at his hand, but walked forward, refusing to take it. She saw his smile falter slightly but he motioned for Nailah to stay at the entrance, before ushering Vielka forward.

He led her to an area at the very back. There they found yet another scientist was bent over what appeared to be an item of clothing. He looked up in mild surprise as she walked in before T'Challa.

"Oh, you must be the mercenary everyone is talking about."

Vielka narrowed her eyes and glared at the scientist, causing him to shrink back immediately, until T'Challa stepped before her. "Professor, the Corporal is no more a mercenary than you, I'll have you treat her with the appropriate respect of her position."

"Oh, yes, of course, my apologies, I did not mean it in that way. We just...aren't sure what exactly to call your position as yet?"

Vielka screwed up her nose in mild annoyance, but began to walk about the lab, looking at the pieces of metal that were being held by the many pieces of equipment in the room. "What exactly is it you are doing here?" she asked curiously, seeing a machine behind a large window of thick glass, that appeared to melting down some kind of metal, and then 'spinning' it into what looked like very fine thread.

"Ah, I've been tasked with finding a way of turning Vibranium into a light but strong armour," the professor explained, moving to stand beside Vielka as she watched the machine work.

"Vibranium? Isn't that what your armour was made of?" Vielka asked, glancing back at T'Challa. He nodded in reply, watching her with a semi pleased expression on his face. "You made that," she asked the professor.

"Yes! A real triumph that was," the professor gushed.

She raised an eyebrow. "Yet I managed to breach the armour..."

The professor faltered slightly, beginning to look flustered. "Yes, well, extenuating circumstances... Enhancement...repeated use." The professor began to walk away, muttering reasons under his breath, bringing a sly smile to Vielka's face.

She looked back to T'Challa, to see he was staring straight at her with a strange expression on his face. She furrowed her brow before looking away quickly.

 **oOOo**

T'Challa was shocked initially, to see the sly smile grace Vielka's face as she made the professor feel uncomfortable. Her eyes smiled as she did, small dimples appearing near her mouth and causing her usually severe face to soften.

When she saw him looking at her, she was quick to turn away, looking back to the machinery as it worked.

"Professor, would you be so kind as to show me what I asked for?"

"Oh yes, of course." The professor moved the garment on the table, before picking up a tablet and tapping on the screen a few times. T'Challa saw Vielka jump slightly as a gap opened in the ceiling, two arms swinging down, each holding a mannequin that was dress in near identical armours.

Vielka stared up at them with great interest, first turning her head one way and then the other, analysing the pieces. "What's this?"

"These are the new and improved armour suits for the Black Panther and his... Side kick?"

"Bodyguard," Vielka shot back, causing the professor to flinch. T'Challa looked at him apologetically, before motioning for him to continue.

"After you showed us that the suits weren't completely impenetrable, I went back in and reworked the fibres a bit, I found a way to make the suits just as light, but stronger. We are now rolling out the improved armour to all the army and Dora Milaje, thanks to you."

T'Challa noticed Vielka's cheeks go a light pink at the professor's offhand praise. "Would you, please, try your armour on, Corporal?" T'Challa asked, motioning to the smaller of the two suits.

She bit her lip and looked dubious at it before speaking again. "What was wrong with the one I wore last time?"

"This one has been specifically designed to suit your fighting style, and your build. It's lighter, but stronger and won't hinder you in anyway. The one you were last time was designed for a Dora to wear, specifically Okoye," the professor explained, pulling the suit from the mannequin.

T'Challa looked at Vielka pointedly, hoping to convey his wishes without saying anything. She rolled her eyes, before taking the suit from the professor, following the professor to a room to change.

A moment later she emerged, the armour fitting her perfectly. Her muscle tone was evident in the suit, the black fibres clinging to every curve of her body. She flexed her muscles a little, before swinging her arms. T'Challa watched as she moved her body, trying to get a feel for the new suit.

"You'll notice we've also added a feature into the back of yours," the professor said, hurrying over. Vielka looked at him with mild interest as he pointed out the two spaces at the back of the suit. Vielka reached back to feel them. "We would need to actually take possession of your swords to refine the fit, but they would clip in here, meaning you wouldn't need to strap them to you and risk the sheaths being pulled off in battle."

Vielka gave a nod with an impressed look on her face. "I see, that could come in handy." He motioned to the swords in her hands, offering to take them from her. "Take care of them."

"Yes, ma'am."

 **oOOo**

T'Challa and Vielka were soon returning back through the facility to the helipad where they had arrived. He had been pleased at her reaction to her new armour, she had seemed very impressed by it. The professor had taken mouldings of her swords and would be adding the sword clip ins in the next day to ensure her armour would be ready at a moment's notice, should they be called upon.

"So you're telling me you made this just so that some scientists and doctors could work?" she asked him with a dubious note to her voice, as he led her back through the corridors towards the elevator.

He bit his lip, not looking back at her for a moment, before slowing to a stop and glancing sideways at her. "I'm starting to think you're too clever for your own good."

"I'm Australian, it's what we do."

He sighed before motioning for her to follow him as he moved into the elevator, Vielka and Nailah following. He pressed the button to one of the lower floors, the elevator surging to life and dropping quickly.

"This facility also features living quarters, a state of the art gym, a medical facility and storage areas."

"So it's basically a barracks?" Vielka asked, furrowing her brow as she looked questioningly at him. "Why though? You already have a barracks here."

"Even I get tired of the palace life," T'Challa replied with a sigh. He glanced sideways at Nailah, who was paying him no attention, clearly trying to mind her own business, which was why he chose her to be his guard for the day.

Vielka raised an eyebrow, frowning slightly at his admission, as the elevator slowed to a halt and the doors slid open. They walked through the corridors of thick, solid concrete, Vielka's face growing more suspicious by the second. He led her to the gym, where her eyes roved the room with great interest, the slightest of smiles appearing on her lips.

Seeing her avid intrigue at the gym, he decided to show his pride and joy. "This is the main reason I use the facility at the moment." He led them over to the side of the gym, where a lone door was situated next to a long mirror. "This is my virtual simulation training room."

"Virtual simulation?" Vielka asked, peering through the window.

"Yes, it offers the closest real world training you can get, without too high of a risk."

"But there's still risk?"

"Wouldn't be decent training if there wasn't" T'Challa replied with a slight smile to Vielka, causing her cheeks to go a faint pink. "Would you care to try?"

"I'm good," she replied bluntly. "Care to demonstrate?"

At first, he thought she was asking him to demonstrate, but when he looked at her, he saw she was instead looking at Nailah.

T'Challa hadn't noticed it before, but Nailah was peering with great interest into the window, her face filled with wonder. She glanced first at Vielka and then to him. "If his majesty would allow it?" she spoke quietly.

T'Challa gave her an encouraging smile and then motioned for her to enter. As she moved to enter the room, T'Challa began to explain how it worked.

"The room produces robots, these robots can be programmed to fight in any style you prefer and to any level of skill," he showed Nailah the tablet at the entrance to the room, motioning for her to set it as she pleased.

He moved to stand back before the window beside Vielka, watching as Nailah entered the room, before glancing sideways at the Australian. Her arms were crossed as she waited patiently for the training program to begin, a calm expression on her face. He often found himself wondering what she was thinking inside that head of hers. He had been surprised by how observant she was, to notice Nailah's intrigue in the room, or the fact the the facility was not just a building of scientific study.

 **oOOo**

After a few weeks, Vielka was finally given her first mission, but it was not quite what she had expected. T'Challa and T'Chaka were both to attend a political meeting in Vienna, to sign the Sokovian accords.

She had heard of these 'Avengers' in her travels, hearing both good and bad about them. While they had no direct affect on her life, these Accords that had been drafted in light of their involvement in a lot of destruction and deaths while trying to 'protect' humanity, were mildly concerning.

The Accords meant that all 'enhanced assets' were to be documented and registered. She pressed her lips together into a thin line as she stared out the window into the clouds that surrounded their air craft. It didn't sit well with her at all, but she could understand why T'Chaka might support it. Wakanda had suffered the loss of several of its relief aid workers in Lagos, due to an engagement undertaken by the Avengers.

She was certain there was probably more to the story that had not been brought to light, but it was not her place to argue with the King's decisions. She was only there for the Black Panther, after all.

"Vielka, what would have you so concerned that you have barely let your eyes leave the window, yet you do not see what is outside?" T'Challa asked in a hushed voice as he sat in the seat beside her.

They were flying in the Royal jet, along with four Dora Milaje, T'Chaka and a few of his trusted advisors. Vielka looked from T'Challa, to T'Chaka and then back to T'Challa. "The Accords, they concern me," she replied, deciding she should at least let T'Challa know her concerns over the idea.

T'Challa furrowed his brow at her, clearly not understanding where her concerns lay. Of course, this should have been of no real surprise.

She sighed, rolling her eyes, before continuing. "T'Challa, these accords want all 'enhanced' humans to be registered. That includes me."

T'Challa's face changed to one of concern. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Perhaps, but these Accords are for the protection of nations from vigilantes who cause destruction, like the Avengers. Not government bodies. Your enhancements are not of a dangerous nature to those around you and you have complete control over them."

She pressed her lips into a thin line, looking away from the Wakandan Prince. That wasn't entirely true, but she wasn't about to enlighten him. As for his reasoning as to how they did not affect her, she highly doubted those that would enforce the laws would see it that way either. She would have to be very careful. "These Accords still do not sit well with me."

"Do not fear, you are safe while under my protection," T'Challa whispered back, placing a hand over hers that rested on the arm rest closest to him. She stiffened under his touch, also noting his word choice, before quickly removing her hand.

She could feel the disappointment he exuded from her actions, as well as the daggered look she now received from Nakia, who sat on the other side of the jet from her.

 **oOOo**

T'Challa and his father attended the conference in Vienna, T'Challa walking about the international convention centre with an uncomfortable feeling. He had never enjoyed politics, but it was his father request that he join him, to set him in good stead to take over for him one day in the future.

He glanced about the large room, with its high ceilings and modern architecture, filled with dignitaries from 117 countries who had all agreed to sign the Accords. Vielka's words to him on the plane rang over in his head, as did her reaction to his touch.

He pressed his lips together in frustration at the thought, before he was distracted by a nearby conversation.

"Excuse me, Miss Romanoff?"

T'Challa glanced to his left to see a short woman with red hair, turn to face a UN Staffer. "Yes?"

"These need your signature." She offered some paperwork to the red head, who obliged and signed them. "Thank you."

"Thanks," she replied with a sigh.

He could sympathise with the sigh she made, he felt much the same way. He recognised her, it was the one they called Black Widow. She was one of the Avengers, Natasha Romanoff. He was thoughtful for a moment before he spoke up. "I suppose neither of us is used to the spotlight."

She turned to look at him, a small smile appearing on her lips. "Oh, well, it's not always so flattering."

T'Challa raised his eyebrows at her honest reply. "You seem to be doing alright so far. Considering your last trip to Capitol Hill... I wouldn't think you would be particularly comfortable in this company."

"Well, I'm not."

T'Challa smiled at her kindly. "That alone makes me glad you're here, Miss Romanoff."

Natasha's brows knitted together to show her confusion and concern. "Why? You don't approve of all this?"

T'Challa faltered, recalling Vielka's words to him on the plane, before he offered an apologetic smile. "The Accords, yes. The politics, not really," he began to explain. "Two people in a room can get more done than a hundred."

"Unless you need to move a piano," came his father's voice from behind him.

T'Challa turned in surprise, giving an amused smile at his father's joke. "Father," he greeted with the slightest of nods.

"Son," T'Chaka greeted in return, grinning proudly at him, before looking to Natasha. "Miss Romanoff."

"King T'Chaka," Natasha greeted in return, bowing her head slightly in respect. "Please allow me to apologise for what happened in Nigeria."

"Thank you," T'Chaka replied graciously. "Thank you for agreeing to all this. I'm sad to hear that Captain Rogers will not be joining us today."

Natasha gave an apologetic smile. "Yes, so am I."

T'Challa had heard that a rift had formed amongst the members of the Avengers, some refusing to sign the Accords, and once again his thoughts drifted back to Vielka and her concerns.

A loud voice boomed over the speakers in the room. "If everyone could be seated. This assembly is now in session."

"That is the future calling," T'Challa said jovially. He looked to Natasha with a warm smile. "Such a pleasure."

"Thank you," Natasha replied graciously, nodding to them both before taking her leave of them.

T'Chaka turned to look at his son, beaming at him. "For a man who disapproves of diplomacy, you're getting quite good at it."

He gave a little laugh in response to his father's praise. "I'm happy, father," T'Challa replied, smiling back.

"Thank you," King T'Chaka said, placing a hand on his son's shoulder.

 **oOOo**

T'Challa stood by the window of the convention hall, watching as his father gave a speech to the congregation of dignitaries. While his father spoke of the theft and misuse of their countries precious metals, his thoughts wandered to Vielka. She was not present at the Accords, staying with the other Dora at their vehicles, awaiting their return.

T'Chaka had insisted their guards stay behind, as a sign of good faith to the other nations, including Vielka. They did not want to offend.

He glanced out the window as he was lost in his own thoughts, but something caught his eye. He noticed a news fan parked on the road in front of the conference hall was attracting the attention of one of the local authority's dogs, causing frantic movement from the officers nearing it.

He was quick to react, turning and running towards his father at the podium before the other dignitaries. "EVERYBODY GET DOWN!"

There was an enormous explosion between two buildings, sending the glass wall of the conference hall inwards, the blast sending anyone close to the wall flying, including T'Challa and T'Chaka.

T'Challa was quick to his feet, looking around bewildered, as he tried to refocus himself, his ears ringing loudly. He looked to where he had last seen his father.

His father lay on the floor, his eyes closed and blood seeping from his wounds. T'Challa ran to his father's side, grabbing his wrist and feeling for a pulse, only to find nothing. T'Challa reached across his father, lifting him into his lap and rocking back and forth, as his tears flowed freely while his heart shattered.

 **oOOo**

Vielka hurried through the crowded streets, the four Dora Milaje behind her, they looked frantically through the crowds of people. A policeman moved to stop them, but Vielka pushed past him easily, leaving Zola to explain who they were.

She spotted T'Challa walking towards them, he was bleeding from a cut on his head, his clothes showed he had been close to the blast, but other than that he seemed fine.

"T'Challa," she called, moving to stand in front of him. She put her hands on his shoulders to stop him, seeing he seemed to be in somewhat of a daze. Nakia, Okoye and Nailah gathered behind her, soon followed by Zola, looking at T'Challa in concern, before looking behind him to try and see where the King was. "Are you okay?"

"I am fine."

"Where is your father?" Vielka pressed, trying to peer into the young prince's face as he stared blankly at the ground. He raised his hand, touching the wound on his head, before looking down at the blood that had come away from it. As he looked at his hand, she saw the ring on his finger, she had seen it before. It was his father's. It was the King's ring.

He raised his head, looking into Vielka's eyes. She saw it, rage, a thirst for vengeance and dismay mingled in the dark brown of his eyes.

"He's gone."

The Dora around her gasped, looking to each other in dismay. Vielka looked around at the crestfallen faces of the Dora, before looking back at T'Challa. "We should start organising our return to Wakanda then-" she began, looking to Nailah.

"No, the Dora are to return home with my father's body and prepare him for burial," he ordered, standing straight suddenly. He took Vielka's hands from his shoulders, dropping them as he looked back up to the chaos that was now the conference hall. "We are going hunting."

Vielka stared after the now Wakandan King, glancing at the Dora who stared after him as well. Okoye was the first to look back at Vielka, a look of concern appearing on her usually indifferent face. "Do as he asks, I'll send word to the Queen when I can," Vielka ordered before running after the King.

* * *

 **I probably won't get another update this week unfortunately.**

 **xo**

 **Krayzee**


	4. Chapter 4

**I got bored, so i'm uploading another chapter**

 **I've also started updating the original story, Forgotten, to start to fall in line with events from this story. Check it out!**

 **xo**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

T'Challa watched as the German Special Forces swarmed the building beside the one he stood on. He watched with anticipation for any sign of the criminal he sought.

He had tapped into the local Special Operations communication channel, and with the help of Vielka's linguistic skills, was able to follow them to his current location, a rather unassuming building in Bucharest, Romania.

According to Vielka's deciphering of the current radio chatter, It would seem that Captain America had already arrived before them though. The German Special Forces now battled to subdue the Winter Soldier, as well as fend off the American Super Soldier.

T'Challa had already seen a back pack thrown from a window, landing on the rooftop he was perched on, so he now waited patiently for his opportunity.

There was the smashing of glass, as a man leapt from the building, landing heavily and rolling to his feet, before gathering the backpack. T'Challa had already started running toward the man as he picked up the pack, beginning to try and make his getaway.

T'Challa chased him down, tackling him from behind and causing him to tumble to the ground, before he looked around in confusion.

The Winter Soldier's eyes narrowed as he took in T'Challa's armour, T'Challa extending his fingers to reveal his sharp, Vibranium claws from his suit, before rushing forward to attack the fleeing criminal.

T'Challa slashed wildly at the super soldier, before aiming a sweeping kick at the man's legs, which he jumped over. The Winter Soldier tried to fight back, but T'Challa had backed him towards a wall, capitalising on his position, he kicked out at the man, sending him flying into a brick wall.

He charged after him, his anger continuing to grow as he leapt forward to try and slash at him with his claws once again, but the super soldier grabbed a metal bar, using it to block the attack, before going on the offensive himself.

T'Challa managed to knock the bar from his hands, before trying to slash at him once again, only for the Winter Soldier to catch his wrists and hold him in his place. He was strong, and held T'Challa firmly in place, as the sound of a chopper flying close by could be heard.

T'Challa could hear the sound of a machine gun being fired, but ignored it, as he felt the bullets ricochet of his suit of armour harmlessly. There was the sound of something large hitting the chopper and the bullets changed course, spraying wildly.

"T'Challa, word has it Captain America and Falcon are in pursuit, watch out," Vielka's voice warned through his earpiece.

The Winter Soldier managed to break free, shoving T'Challa away, before gathering his bag and taking off again.

"He is getting away!" T'Challa exclaimed, beginning to pursue the man.

"I'm tracking you, I'll try and head him off," Vielka replied.

T'Challa followed him as he leapt down a level, using the claws of his suit as traction on the wall of a building, landing in the middle of a busy road. He was quick to continue the chase, utilising the enhanced speed of his armoured suit. He could hear the sound of the German Special Forces calling for them to halt over the loud speaker of the helicopter that pursued them, but paid no heed.

Gunfire from the chopper that now followed them, tore up the sidewalk around them, but still T'Challa kept chasing.

The Winter Soldier jumped down through an opening in the middle of the road, landing in an underpass, and causing traffic to slam to a halt or swerve wildly around him. T'Challa dropped down after him, leaping over cars in an effort to catch him.

The escaping criminal ran over the top of a speeding car, outpacing it, with T'Challa just a few cars behind, keeping pace with him.

As T'Challa ran, an SUV appeared beside him, he glanced sideways and saw that Captain America was at the wheel. The American glared at T'Challa and the Wakandan realised what his purpose was. He was trying to get to the Winter Soldier before T'Challa could.

T'Challa leapt onto the back of the SUV, clinging to the vehicle with his Vibranium claws piercing through the metal shell of the car. Captain America began to swerve wildly, in a bid to shake him loose.

"T'Challa, the local authorities are joining the pursuit, this is getting out of hand," Vielka warned.

"Where are you?" he demanded, his voice strained as he continued to try and hold tight to the SUV. He leapt to the roof of the car as Captain America swerved the SUV at another police vehicle that tried to cut him off.

"Up ahead, nearly there," she replied, her voice even and calm.

 **oOOo**

The Winter Soldier reached a fork in the road, facing oncoming traffic. He leapt over a barrier, which Captain America continued to drive through, causing T'Challa to climb further onto the roof of the speeding car.

A motorbike sped towards the Winter Soldier and T'Challa immediately recognised the rider. Vielka sped towards them, unsheathing one of her swords as she approached. The Winter Soldier saw her before she had reached him, sliding to a stop.

As she sped past him, she slashed at him with her sword, connecting with the arm that he brought up to offer himself some protection. As she continued past, T'Challa saw part of his sleeve fall away from where she had sliced him, revealing his metallic arm.

"Be careful, Banzai," T'Challa warned as Captain America continued to swerve wildly through the traffic.

Vielka spun the bike around, revving it again before speeding back towards the Winter Soldier, her sword still drawn. This time as she sped towards him, the super soldier leapt forward, connecting with the front wheel of the bike with his metal arm, knocking it sideways.

Vielka leapt into the air, flipping once, before landing at a crouch easily, her sword poised at her side.

As they stared at each other, there was the screeching of tires as Captain America tried to still shake T'Challa from the SUV, and Falcon tried to hit him with a small explosive projectile. He hadn't counted on T'Challa's armoured suit deflecting it easily, and it flew ahead of them, hitting the ceiling of the overpass.

The ceiling began to crumble, the debris landing in front of the car. Captain America swerved the 4x4 in an effort to try and make it through the rubble, rather unsuccessfully. The SUV hit the debris, as T'Challa leapt from the top of the vehicle, closely followed by Captain America.

T'Challa continued running towards Vielka, who was moving to attack the Winter Soldier, her sword poised to strike, but Captain America outran him, tackling Vielka and flinging her away from the Winter Soldier. T'Challa quickly moved to stand before her as she rolled back to her feet easily.

T'Challa glanced back at her to check she was fine. She wore her new armour, with one new addition. He had made the scientists design a face mask for her, which would act as armour, a communicator and HUD, as well as a way to keep her face concealed to protect her identity.

He looked her up and down, until she nodded to him, her new armour clearly having protected her from any injury. He then turned back to face his father's murderer, and the man who wished to protect him.

 **oOOo**

Captain America stood before them, she could see both he and The Winter Soldier eyeing them both off with caution, as well as curiosity. As she stood there, her HUD began streaming intel being passed between local authorities and she was also listening to the radio chatter from both the Special Forces pursuing The Winter Soldier and the local authorities.

They were all moving in on their current position.

It did not take long until they heard the sound of sirens. T'Challa spoke quickly through their internal radio system. "You need to go, if they were to find you, it could cause you problems."

"No, my job is to protect you, we'll cross that bridge when it comes."

"You cannot protect me if you are in custody due to your enhancement," T'Challa argued. Vielka glanced sideways at him, but sighed, before running away, disappearing into one of the service tunnels within the underpass.

She lithely followed it, careful to move quietly so as to keep herself off their radars. She clenched her jaw, annoyed that T'Challa would not allow her to stay close to keep him safe, but his concerns were justified. She would find her own way to keep close to him.

 **oOOo**

T'Challa stood looking at Captain America and the Winter Soldier, glaring at them as they stared nervously back. He was glad he had sent Vielka away, after the conversation they had in the jet on the way there. The last thing he wanted was them to discover her many 'talents'.

Armed police arrived, surrounding them, with their guns aimed at all three of them. War Machine leapt down from above and raised both hands, pointing his weapons at all three of them.

"Stand down, everyone," War Machine ordered, as the Winter Soldier moved closer to the Captain, who put his shield on his back. "Congratulations, Cap. You're a criminal."

Police moved in and forced Bucky to his knees, which T'Challa found rather dissatisfying. He raised his hands, showing his surrender to the authorities surrounding them, withdrawing his claws back into his armour. A policeman moved Captain America's arms behind his back, who still glared at T'Challa. He reached for his helmet slowly, removing it and revealing his face.

War Machine turned his head to look at him, disengaging the weapon pointed at T'Challa before nodding.. "Your highness." Captain Rogers gaped, as the Winter Soldier was forced to lay face first on the ground.

 **oOOo**

T'Challa sat in the front of an SUV, as it sped through the busy city streets of Berlin. He looked out the window, his eyes scanning through the traffic and faces for any sign of his guard that would most likely be tailing them.

They had been transported by convoy from Vienna to Berlin, headed to the Joint Counter Terrorism Centre, he was certain that Vielka would have found a way to track them, but he worried for her well-being.

He realised that was a silly sentiment, she had been alone for a long time, fending for herself and slipping beneath the radar of society for years already, for him to worry about her seemed like a pointless endeavour, but still he did.

Captain America, or Steve Rogers as he now knew him as, was seated behind him, as was The Falcon, or Sam Wilson. They had travelled in predominant silence so far, T'Challa too absorbed by his own thoughts to bother conversing with the pair.

"So, you like cats?" Sam asked, his tone indicating that he was clearly mocking the Black Panther. T'Challa did not react, ignoring the question.

"Sam," Steve warned his friend.

"What? Dude shows up dressed like a cat and you don't wanna know more?" T'Challa smirked, but said nothing to the American's jibes at his armour.

"Your suit...its Vibranium?" Steve asked, the curiosity evident in his voice.

T'Challa narrowed his eyes as he glanced behind him at Steve. "The Black Panther has been the protector of Wakanda for generations. A mantle, passed from warrior to warrior. And now, because your friend murdered my father, I also wear the mantle of King. So, I ask you... as both warrior and King... how long do you think you can keep your friend safe from me?"

Steve was stony faced, glaring back at him, as T'Challa turned back to face the front.

The SUV pulled up inside a light gray walled bunker, the Winter Soldier's prison pod carried away by a forklift. T'Challa stepped out of the SUV and glanced across, watching as they took away the prison pod, before glancing around the bunker, wondering where Vielka could be.

With Sam and T'Challa close behind, Steve approached a young blonde woman, whom seemed familiar to him by the way she looked at him, beside her was standing a diminutive, grey-haired man.

"What's gonna happen to him?" Steve demanded, seeming to address the woman more than the man.

"Same thing that ought to happen to you. Psychological evaluation and extradition," the grey-haired man retorted.

"This is Everett Ross, Deputy Task Force Commander," the blonde woman replied, although T'Challa detected some dislike in the woman's voice when she introduced him.

"What about our lawyer?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Lawyer. That's funny," Everett replied haughtily, before turning to the young woman. "See their weapons are placed in lockup, Miss Carter. Oh, we'll write you a receipt."

"I better not look out the window and see anybody flying around in that," Sam said pointedly, as he watched them take his wings away. Everett began to lead them away, further into the building. He lead them upstairs and across a covered skywalk that overlooked the city.

"You'll be provided with an office instead of a cell. Now, do me a favour, stay in it?" Everett asked, looking at each of them pointedly.

"I'm not intending on going anywhere," T'Challa replied, folding his arms across his chest and looking meaningfully at Everett as Sam and Steve followed along behind Miss Carter.

Everett looked back at him with mild concern, before narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms. "There were reports of another hostile in the underpass, the reports say she seemed to be in league with you."

"She is my bodyguard, and she has diplomatic immunity, as do I. The only reason I am still here, is because I wish to see the Winter Soldier face justice. As such, I seek to take the Winter Soldier into Wakandan custody to face trial in my country for the murder of the King, T'Chaka."

"Very well, we will look into it, but we would like to speak with this bodyguard of yours," Everett replied.

"She speaks to no one, but me."

"What is that, some kind of Wakandan bodyguard code?" Everett scoffed.

"Indeed."

Everett looked dubiously at the Wakandan King, but said nothing more of it, leaving him to his own devices. T'Challa looked out over the city below, wondering if Vielka had made her way there yet.

 **oOOo**

T'Challa sat inside the office that had been provided for him, watching the evaluation of James Buchanan Barnes. He could not hear anything, only able to see the happenings inside the interrogation room. Barnes was still being held inside the prison pod, the psychologist seated at a desk across from him.

T'Challa watched intently, growing impatient. He also worried for Vielka, as to whether she had been captured by the curious Everett Ross, or if she was even aware that they knew she existed. He knew the chances were that she would have ensured that she blended into her surrounds once she escaped the underpass, but he still worried.

His thoughts were interrupted as Natasha Romanoff entered the office. He glanced up at her for a moment before looking back to the feed.

"So, the Black Panther?" Natasha said, sitting across from him. When he didn't reply she continued. "I'm a little surprised you supported the Accords when really it would have brought you under their jurisdiction."

"How long do your psychological evaluations usually take?" T'Challa asked, ignoring her point.

"Why? You bored?"

"Not currently, but my prisoner and I have a plane to catch."

Natasha gave a small smile. "Well, I don't see that happening any time soon."

She had no sooner said it before Everett appeared at the door. "Your highness, extradition has been approved as soon as evaluations are over."

T'Challa gave Everett a nod, before glancing back at Natasha, saying nothing as she narrowed her eyes slightly, before taking her leave.

 **oOOo**

As he continued to watch on, another half hour passing by, the lights dimmed, power cutting from the lights in the office he was in. The feed from within the interrogation room was cut, the screen going black. T'Challa stood, looking about the offices surrounding his. They were nothing but a sea of blackness, a feeling of unease settling within his stomach. He ran into the corridors, spotting Steve, Miss Carter and Sam, running in the opposite direction to him.

He quickly ran to follow them, although when he finally caught up, he found that Sam and Steve had separated from her. He continued after her, hopeful that she would eventually lead her to the Winter Soldier.

As he ran downstairs, he found Tony Stark, Miss Carter and Natasha had engaged with Barnes, who had somehow escaped from his prison pod. T'Challa hurried to free Natasha from being strangled by Barnes, leaping from the stairs above him and kicking him away from her.

He quickly engaged with Barnes, striking at him with lightning fast kicks and some punches, before Barnes was able to get in a counter punch, causing T'Challa to fall backwards. He quickly recovered as Barnes hurried up some stairs.

T'Challa was quick to cut him off, leaping up the levels easily and vaulting a railing, to land in front of Barnes. T'Challa aimed a roundhouse at his chest, forcing him backwards into the railing before grabbing Barnes' metal arm, which he tried to twist but soon realised it wasn't going to work. Barnes flexed his arm, loosening T'Challa's grip, before moving to grab T'Challa by the throat.

Before he could put any real pressure to T'Challa's throat, someone barged into Barnes, knocking his arm away and throwing him backwards, falling down the stairs with him.

T'Challa fell sideways, before looking down after Barnes, to see Vielka was there, having tackled the super soldier, tumbling down the stairs, tangled amongst the Winter Soldier.

She was quick to her feet as they stopped on the landing, before lunging at Barnes again. He blocked her punches, grabbing hold of one of her hands as T'Challa hurried to join the fray, fearful as he saw her try to pull her arm back from the super soldier, that he would cause her serious harm.

Before he could reach them, she swept her leg low, collecting Barnes' legs and sending him over the railing and into the wall behind the landing. He jolted her shoulder as he went, but released her. She held her shoulder as he ran to check on her.

"Banzai, are you alright?" he asked, moving to help her.

"I'm fine, come on, we can't let him get away," she said, brushing him off her and moving to leap over the railing, T'Challa following behind her.

They both landed on the ground floor to find the area empty, not a soul in sight.

 **oOOo**

Vielka watched as T'Challa moved about their hotel suite, a tablet in hand, while she stood by the window, watching the skyline and the roads below for any sign of trouble.

She had taken a big risk, tracking T'Challa to the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre, but she was also intrigued by the man he was tracking. And when she saw him suddenly attacking without prejudice, something had not seemed right. She kept her thoughts to herself, though, certain that T'Challa would not agree with her thoughts at this time.

Everett had ordered for her detainment almost immediately, but T'Challa had been quick to defend her, warning Everett that he risked an international incident if he were to lay a hand on her. As she had committed no real crime but been doing her job, he had no cause to detain her, and she was not obliged to provide a statement of her involvement in the events inside the underpass. Not that she had done much.

Much to Everett's disappointment, she had walked out of the establishment, freely.

After a few hours of phone calls, emails and hacking government agencies, T'Challa had finally sourced the information he needed, getting them closer to finding Barnes.

They hurried downstairs to the underground car park, where there was a car waiting, Vielka leading the way, slipping her face piece back over her eyes as they moved through the corridors.

As they approached the car, she spotted the red haired female Avenger, the Black Widow. She moved to stand before T'Challa defensively, unsure of the woman's purpose to being there, when the rest of her team were also supposed to be searching for the Winter Soldier.

T'Challa stepped before her, looking at her with a look of amusement, and moved to greet the Avenger. Vielka moved to stand behind him, her eyes watching the woman warily, noting her eyes drifted to look back at her more than once.

"You really think you can find him?" Romanoff asked T'Challa as he stopped before her.

"My resources are considerable."

She scoffed slightly. "Yeah, it took the world 70 years to find Barnes... so you could probably do that in about half the time."

Vielka furrowed her brow, the red head knew something.

"You know where they are," T'Challa said, narrowing his eyes at Natasha.

"I know someone who does."

T'Challa considered Natasha's words for a moment, before he looked sideways at Vielka, who turned her head slightly to meet his gaze. "Come, Banzai, the hunt shall continue."

 **oOOo**

Vielka stood behind T'Challa as he met with Tony Stark. She was well aware of the entrepreneur and weapons developer. His story was infamous throughout the world. He was the Iron Man. She had to admit, he was less impressive outside his armour.

"Your highness," he said, putting his hand out to T'Challa, who accepted it slowly, she saw his eyes slide to look at her. "I'm sorry, I don't recall seeing your name on the list."

"She is my personal guard," T'Challa was quick to answer, not missing a beat and stepping before her protectively.

"You're awfully protective of your 'guard'," Tony said after appraising them both for a moment, raising an eyebrow as he looked between Vielka and T'Challa.

"He's protecting you," Vielka muttered, folding her arms across her chest and looking away. She didn't need to look at T'Challa to know he was smirking at her comment, as Tony huffed slightly and looked at Natasha.

She stepped forward, looking around the room they were in. "We know that they're currently in Flughafen Leipzig-Halle, from what we can tell, they're looking to fly out of there, where, we aren't quite sure. So we need to stop them there. We have 36 hours, before Ross goes postal and does God knows what."

Vielka glanced around the room, from what she could tell they had Black Widow, Iron Man, War Machine and a rather disturbing looking... Being... Named Vision. She dared not call him a person, there was something about him that made her uncomfortable. Especially the way he looked at her.

"In the last few hours, Wanda was kidnapped by Clint," Natasha continued, before looking at T'Challa. "You might know him as Hawkeye, so we have to assume that they're siding with Steve."

"They've got two super soldiers and a woman that can manipulate matter. I think that might equate to us being outnumbered..." Vielka murmured behind T'Challa, not looking up to meet Natasha or Tony's gaze.

"Don't worry about that, I've got something organised," Tony said, a small smirk gracing his face.

 **oOOo**

T'Challa crept across the tarmac of the airport. He heard the fizzle and crackle of the helicopter, telling him Iron Man had found one of the band of escapees.

He leapt over a truck, landing lithely in front of Captain America. "Captain."

"Your highness," Steve replied with a slight nod of his head.

Vielka whispered through T'Challa's ear piece. "Keep your guard up, I've got heat signatures approaching."

"Anyways, Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?" Tony rambled, as T'Challa looked beyond the Captain, seeking the other bodies Vielka had picked up.

"You're after the wrong guy."

"Your judgement is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday," Tony exclaimed, the anger in his voice becoming prominent.

"And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't."

"T'Challa, if there's a chance he's telling the truth, perhaps..."

"No, we seek only the justice for Wakanda," T'Challa cut Vielka off as she began to voice her concerns. He would not be led astray from his vengeance for his father.

"The world is bigger than Wakanda, T'Challa," he heard her murmur under breath.

"Steve... you know what's about to happen. Do you really wanna try and punch your way out of this one?" Natasha asked, moving to stand beside Tony. Steve sighed and turned his head, showing his thoughts on the matter.

"All right, I've run out of patience. Underoos!" Tony shouted, as a blur of red and blue flew overhead from behind Steve, a web shooting out and taking his shield, before collecting around his hands and pinning them together. The red and blue blur landed in a crouch on a cart behind them, Steve's shield in hand. "Nice job, kid."

"Thanks. Well, I could've stuck the landing a little better. It's just the new suit... Well, it's nothing, Mr. Stark. It's-It's perfect. Thank you," the kid began to ramble.

T'Challa heard what sounded like Vielka muttering obscenities under her breath, but did not let it distract him.

"Yeah, we don't really need to start a conversation," Tony replied, motioning that the newcomer should be quiet.

"Okay. Cap... Captain. Big fan, I'm Spider-Man."

"Yeah, we'll talk about it later. Just..."

"Hey, everyone."

Tony sighed in frustration. " ... good job."

"You've been busy'" Steve said with an amused look on his face, although his hands were still restrained by the webbing.

"And you've been a complete idiot. Dragging in Clint. 'Rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep... I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart," Tony retorted angrily.

Steve sighed in resignation. "You did that when you signed."

"Alright, We're done. You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us. NOW! Because it's us! Or a squad of J-SOC guys... with no compunction about being impolite. Come on."

"T'Challa, watch out!" Vielka warned and he was immediately on his guard, knowing Vielka had a far better view of the airport from her current position in overwatch.

Steve raised his hands up, an arrow shooting through the webbing that bound them. "Alright, Lang."

Spider-Man, as he called himself, began to move strangely. "Hey, guys, something..." He was sent flying backwards, as a man appeared from thin air, before turning and running back towards Steve.

"Whoa. What-What the hell was that?" War Machine demanded, looking around at the others as if to check if they had seen it too.

The man handed Steve his shield. "I believe this is yours, Captain America."

T'Challa was immediately on edge. He knew the soldier was most dangerous with his shield in hand. "Vielka, I need a scan of our surrounds, now," T'Challa said, beginning to move forward.

"Hang on."

"Oh, great." Tony threw his hands up in frustration, before the helmet on his suit closed over his face. "Alright, there's two on the parking deck. One of them's Maximoff, I'm gonna grab her. Rhodey, you want to take Cap?"

"Got two in the terminal, Wilson and Barnes," War Machine reported, also moving to take on Captain America.

"I've got a lock on Barnes, T'Challa," Vielka also reported. "He's running through the main terminal, looks like The Falcon might be with him. I'll head in."

"Barnes is mine!" T'Challa shouted to War Machine, making a move towards the terminal, but Captain America moved to stand in his way.

"Move, Captain. I won't ask a second time," T'Challa demanded, eyeing off the super soldier before him.

"I can't do that."

War Machine and T'Challa moved to attack Captain America, both working together to try and over power the super soldier. No matter how they tried, they could not gain the upper hand over him.

Steve kicked out at War Machine, knocking him out of the air, before flinging his shield at T'Challa and sending him reeling.

T'Challa recovered quickly, glancing sideways at War Machine as he discarded of his now broken mace. "Great."

They both looked to Steve as the man who had appeared from no-where hurried to his side. "Hey, Cap, heads up!" he called, handing something small to Steve. "Throw it at this. Now!"

Steve threw it, and it suddenly enlarged into a large truck, tumbling towards War Machine.

"Oh, come on!" he groaned as the truck landed and exploded, the blast blowing out towards T'Challa. He felt himself tackled roughly, thrown sideways behind a bus from the force.

"Argh!" Vielka gasped as the blast hit her.

"Banzai!" T'Challa exclaimed, quickly moving to check on her as the blast subsided, while Steve and his offsider took off in the opposite direction. "I thought you were going to the terminal?"

"I'm fine," she said sardonically, as he looked her over. There was a burn on her neck and one on her hand, clearly she had been caught well by the blast. "MY job is to guard you, remember? Don't worry about it, let's move."

"Alright, now I'm pissed," War Machine murmured as he recovered from being hit by the truck.

T'Challa, War Machine and Vielka ran after Captain America, seeing them headed for the hangar where Tony's Quinjet was parked. That must have been their plan all along, to hi-jack the Quinjet. They were joined by several others, including the Winter Soldier.

"We won't catch them at this rate," Vielka warned, even as she began to pull ahead of T'Challa.

T'Challa knew she was right, even with the assistance of his enhancement, there was no chance that he would catch them before they made the jet.

A fizzing stream of red energy sliced across the runway before the escaping renegades and they skid to a stop as Vision hovered overhead.

"Captain Rogers. I know you believe what you're doing is right. But for the collective good, you must surrender now," Vision said calmly, as he floated closer to the ground. T'Challa and Vielka, slid to a stop, War Machine landing beside them. The rest of Tony's team were quick to join them.

* * *

 **xo**

 **Krayzee**


	5. Chapter 5

**Kind of love this chapter a little. Gives a little more story on V.**

 **xo**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

They lined up facing Captain America and his team, watching each other warily.

"This is gonna end well," Natasha murmured sarcastically, glancing sideways at Tony.

T'Challa stared at the Winter Soldier who stood across from him, a steely look on his face as he looked back between T'Challa and his guard.

The two teams started to stride towards each other with grim determination etched on their faces.

"Uh, they're not stopping?" the Spider-Man said, his voice laced with concern as he looked between those that stood around him.

"Neither are we," Tony said as he and War Machine took off. T'Challa and Vielka broke into a sprint, charging straight for the Winter Soldier.

Vielka reached him first, but as he tried to grab her, she slid low as T'Challa tackled him from above. They began to trade blows with the super soldier, Vielka's sword clashing loudly with the man's metal arm as he tried to avoid the blade's sharp edge.

All around them, punches were traded, small explosions ensuing as those with the weapons to do so, utilised them.

T'Challa and Vielka took turns to try and subdue Barnes, but he still managed to evade them, until Vielka ran at him from behind, where he had previously thrown her, launching herself to land on his back. She gripped him tightly, an arm wrapped around his metal arm.

"Let go! I don't want to hurt you!"

"As if you could," she hissed into his ear, before reeling backwards with all her strength. T'Challa watched in awe as she flipped him backwards onto his front.

She dropped to a knee to try and punch him from behind, but he managed to roll from her grasp, swinging his metal arm and connecting with her side, flinging her sideways.

T'Challa was enraged as he ran forward to attack the man, his claws swiping wildly at him, occasionally clashing with his metal arm as Bucky dodged and blocked his attacks.

T'Challa grabbed him about the neck, only for Barnes to do the same to him, locking them in a battle of strength.

"I didn't kill your father," Barnes gasped as T'Challa tightened his grip.

"Then why did you run?" T'Challa pulled Bucky's hand off his neck, spinning him away before fly kicking him backwards. He extended his fingers as he ran at the super soldier, unsheathing his claws, and aiming for Bucky's neck. As he closed in, his hand was stopped through no action of his own. He noticed a strange red mist about his hand, before looking about. It was Wanda Maximoff, the woman with psychic ability from Sokovia. She waved her arms sending T'Challa flying, headed for a passenger gangway.

 **oOOo**

"I don't think so," Vielka growled, throwing the sword in her hand at the woman. The sword caught the distracted woman's coat, sending her backwards slightly and pinning her to the side of a truck. T'Challa went skidding along the ground, as he was released from her powers.

"Hey!" Wanda shouted, trying to loosen herself from the sword that pinned her.

Vielka moved to help T'Challa but he waved her off. "Get him! Hurry!" She furrowed her brow but turned to give chase to the Winter Soldier, as ordered, who was now joined by Captain America as they sprinted for the hangar that contained Tony's Quinjet.

She grit her teeth and pushed harder to catch them, willing her legs to sprint faster.

She saw them talking amongst themselves as they kept running, occasionally an explosion would resonate from where the others fought but she was careful to keep her mind focused on catching the two escapees, particularly the Winter Soldier.

As she started making up ground on them, there was a shining beam of energy that shot overhead, hitting the control tower and causing it to collapse towards the hangar. Vielka narrowed her eyes and smirked slightly, pleased to see that the humanoid was proving useful.

What she wasn't pleased to see was the same red energy that had been holding T'Challa earlier, holding up the debris from the control tower, giving the two super soldiers room to escape. She sped up again.

As she ran, there was a screeching noise that brought her to her knees. The sound had her clutching at the back of her neck as pain stretched from the base of her neck and down her spine, trying to grab at the source of her pain, trying to stop it.

The noise soon stopped, and Vielka looked around in a daze, looking behind her to see Wanda Maximoff was also on the ground. She could see T'Challa was running towards her, and looked back ahead of her, to see where the two super soldiers were, to find they had made it inside the hangar.

She was quick to her feet, sprinting to climb over the debris from the collapsed control tower, trying to get to them before they could take off.

As she reached the wall of debris and began leaping over it, she saw Natasha Romanoff talking to the pair, confused for a moment as to why she was not trying to apprehend them. It occurred to her that perhaps Natasha stood no chance on her own, and the thought spurred her on to hurry, being careful to be quiet.

She leapt down from the debris wall, hearing T'Challa making his way up behind her, before sprinting silently towards the Winter Soldier who was closest to her.

"I'm going to regret this," she heard Natasha say, as she lifted her arm, aiming the device around her wrist at them.

Vielka was about to lunge at Barnes, until Natasha fired the device, noticing it's electrical nodes aimed straight at her. She was quick to slide along the ground, to avoid the nodes, pulling her sword from its sheath and blocking a kick from the Black Widow.

"What the hell," Vielka sneered as she slid to a stop, looking at Natasha angrily. She was well aware that Barnes and Rogers were making a run for the Quinjet, but with Natasha trying to hit her with her Widow Bite, she couldn't risk turning her back on her.

T'Challa then appeared over the debris, landing lithely on the ground, and caught her attention, Natasha turning to shoot at him instead. Vielka took the opportunity to turn and run to the jet, as Barnes and Rogers disappeared through the door.

She was close as the doors moved to close, she could still see Barnes looking out the door as she approached. She threw her sword in a last ditch effort to stop them, but he deflected it with his arm, causing it to fall harmlessly to the ground, as the jet began to rise off the ground.

Vielka clenched her jaws as she watched the jet float out of the hangar, before shooting off into the distance, War Machine and Iron Man close on its tail.

She collected her sword before walking back to where T'Challa now stood glaring at Natasha, she turned to look at Vielka, who felt very much like putting her sword to the red head's throat. "I told you I would help you find them, I didn't say I would help you catch them. There's a difference."

Vielka narrowed her eyes, before looking back out the hangar, hearing a lot of commotion out there. When she really thought about it, she didn't feel so bad that they had gotten away. Something peculiar had struck her as she had fought Barnes, to be precise, something that he had said to her.

 _'I don't want to hurt you.'_

A man who kills without prejudice would never say such a thing, she knew that first hand, and she had seen it in his eyes as she had fought him. They were concerned, although he defended himself to the best of his abilities against her, she was certain he had not been putting in his all when he countered against her, doing only a enough to set her back slightly. Something wasn't right.

Her attention was brought back to the red-head when she turned to look at her. "You're enhanced, aren't you?" she asked, looking at her through narrowed eyes.

"That is none of your concern," T'Challa bit back, before grabbing Vielka by the arm and leading her away. "We need to find them."

Vielka looked over her shoulder to see the red-head watching them, her arms folded across her chest. She turned back and glanced sideways at T'Challa, her thoughts on Barnes still lingering in her head. "T'Challa, what if he is innocent?"

"What?" T'Challa demanded, halting to stare at her.

She took a breath, looking around to see the rest of Rogers' team being led away. "Look, these people have given up their freedom for Rogers and Barnes, would they really do so, if they didn't believe in them?"

T'Challa looked from her to the members of Rogers' team that were being led away, before he removed his helmet, looking back at her with a furrowed brow. "What are you suggesting, Corporal?"

Vielka sighed, thinking carefully before she spoke again, not wanting to upset the Wakandan King. "Letting vengeance rule your heart can hinder your mind, trust me on that. Perhaps we aren't seeing everything here."

T'Challa narrowed his eyes at her, before turning and walking away.

 **oOOo**

T'Challa and Vielka were flying over choppy seas. They were in the middle of nowhere, but the tracking device that she had planted on Tony's helicopter had led them here.

"You're sure?" T'Challa asked.

"Ask me one more time, I swear to god..." Vielka muttered, not taking her eyes off the screen, but could feel the Wakandan King's look of disapproval. She looked down ahead of them, spotting something in the water. "What's that? It wasn't there a second ago?"

Below them, something was rising from the waters. "It would appear to be some kind of landing pad?" T'Challa said, squinting slightly as he tried to make out the object.

"Look, it's Tony's helicopter," Vielka motioned, pointing to the small aircraft that rose from the landing pad. She glanced sideways to T'Challa. "We going to follow him?"

"Wait," T'Challa said, keeping their Quinjet steady despite the strong headwinds.

Vielka frowned, but looked back to see the helicopter was manoeuvring very slowly from the landing pad, and then she spotted something no bigger than a man, shoot from the doors of the helicopter, flying off into the distance.

"Now, we will follow him," T'Challa said with a smirk, as he turned the Quinjet to follow. Vielka rolled her eyes, before leaning back into her seat, shaking her head. "What is it?"

She furrowed her brow in confusion, looking at him. "What?"

"Since we left Leipzig you've been disgruntled."

"Why do you care?" she retorted. She'd already said some of her thoughts on the matter and he had ignored her, she wasn't going to waste her breath again.

T'Challa looked at her, a severe look in his eye. "Of course I care, I would not ask if I did not," he replied.

"Well then, you're just not listening. I said my peace before, something about this does not sit right with me," she replied. He looked slightly perturbed at own her severe words, but did not look away. "He said to me he didn't want to hurt me, T'Challa. A man who kills indiscriminately of his own free will does not strike me as the kind of man to care like that."

T'Challa's eyes narrowed at her for a moment, before he glanced back to see where Tony was. "Perhaps."

"Let your thirst for vengeance go for just a moment and think, what if everything that Rogers has said is right, what if..." She paused for a moment, suddenly struggling to say the words. They hit her rather hard to think them. "What if he was under someone's control?"

"That doesn't change what he's done."

Vielka pressed her lips into a thin line, looking back out the windscreen. "No, it doesn't, but that changes how they feel about it..."

 **oOOo**

T'Challa stared at Vielka for a moment, something about what she had said, about how she had said it, had struck him hard. She stared out the window now, her eyes glassy and appeared to be reflecting on something.

He had seen the intelligence. He had seen the reports. About who she had been, about what she had done, both in the military and after. She had seen much in her young life, before she had disappeared. He could only imagine what it is she had seen and done when she returned, or what had happened to her.

He felt the urge to ask, but thought better of it, turning back to watch Tony ahead of them.

"Sometimes the faces never leave your mind. Sometimes, you can see what you're doing and you can't stop it." He turned back to stare at her again, confused for a moment. "When I disappeared, I was placed under the control of a mad man, to do his bidding. I've killed people, people who could never have defended themselves against me, T'Challa. I know what people look like when they don't care, but I also know what they look like when they do."

T'Challa felt the urge to walk to the tall Australian and wrap his arms around her, to see the torment on her face now ripped his heart apart, all thoughts of his vengeance gone for a moment. All that mattered to him was to understand her a little more. His attention was soon brought back to Tony, as he descended upon an icy rock in the middle of Siberia. This discussion would need to be continued later.

They waited for Tony to disappear inside the building, before T'Challa landed their Quinjet. He powered the aircraft down and began to gather their gear.

As Vielka turned to exit the aircraft, he grabbed her by the arm gently. She looked back at him in confusion. "We will talk about this further, later." She pressed her lips together, before pulling her arm free from him and continuing to the back of the jet. They disembarked, making their way into a bunker.

"This looks Soviet," Vielka whispered as they crept through the dark corridors. It seemed like no one had been here for a very long time, possibly decades.

"How can you be sure?" T'Challa asked, following behind her as she checked their corners.

Vielka scoffed slightly. "Iraq and Afghanistan are full of them, they try and tell you they don't exist, but they do. That's what makes the extremists over there so dangerous, they've got all of these types of things to utilise."

T'Challa was starting to appreciate Vielka in a whole new light, not only was she an accomplished warrior, she seemed skilled in many areas of her craft. They heard Tony talking ahead, slowing and hiding in the shadows to listen.

"You seem a little defensive," Tony said.

"It's been a long day," Steve replied, the wariness obvious in his voice, even to them.

"At ease, Soldier. I'm not currently after you," Tony said.

"Then why are you here?"

"Could be your story is not so crazy. Maybe. Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself."

T'Challa felt Vielka shift beside him, turning to glance at him, he could just imagine the pointed look she was giving him under her face mask.

"Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork. It's good to see you, Tony."

"You too, Cap. Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop..."

They heard their footsteps continue down the corridor, their voices beginning to fade in the distance. They began to follow along behind, T'Challa now deep in thought after having heard Tony's words. The Winter Soldier's story was true, he had not been the one to set off the bomb at the conference hall. But then, who?

 **oOOo**

Vielka continued to track behind the trio, keeping tight to the shadows and as silent as possible. She had to admit, although apparently two out of the three were soldiers at one time, neither were very good at detecting when they were being tailed.

Then again, it was her tracking them, she smirked to herself slightly.

It was odd, although she knew nothing of Barnes, she had felt relief to hear that the story he had tried to tell of his innocence, was indeed, true. Perhaps it was due to her own tale of woe.

"I've got heat signatures," Tony announced.

She stopped, motioning for T'Challa to wait as she crept closer to the corner for a better look. There was a large door before the trio, it was made of a heavy metal and reminded her vaguely of the inside of a missile silo she had stumbled upon in Iraq at one point.

"How many?" Rogers asked.

"Uh, one." She could just make out the confusion on their faces as they warily continued on into the room.

As they entered the vast chamber the lights flickered on. Hazy, yellow mist descended within five capsules that were spread about the chamber, occupants just visible through the mist.

She motioned for T'Challa to come and look now that the trio had moved inside the chamber. They could see that each one of the capsules contained a body, of which, they could only assume was more super soldiers as told by Barnes.

"You don't think these guys are all like Barnes, do you?" Vielka whispered, but T'Challa said nothing in response.

Rogers and the others look around, bewildered, before there was the tell tale buzz of an intercom system being activated.

"If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep," the voice said, it had a thick European accent. She recognised the voice, he had been at the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre in Berlin, when she had been infiltrating it to get to T'Challa. He was the psychiatrist. "Did you really think I wanted more of you?"

"What the hell?" she heard Barnes murmur. She peered around the doorway further, analysing the capsules a little closer. She saw through the mist of the closest capsule that there was a bullet hole in its resident's head. They were, indeed, all dead.

"I'm grateful to them, though. They brought you here." She saw the psychiatrist's face appear in a small window on the far side of the chamber. Vielka nudged T'Challa and motioned to the window, making sure he knew who was really behind everything.

Rogers hurled his shield at the window, but it flew back, having no affect on the window. "Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets."

"I'm betting I could beat that," Tony challenged.

"Oh, I'm sure you could, Mr. Stark. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came."

Vielka was growing more and more curious, and by the looks of it, so was everyone else present. T'Challa crouched closer to her, so close, that she could feel his shoulder against hers.

"You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?" Rogers demanded. Vielka felt T'Challa stiffen beside her.

"I thought about nothing else for over a year. I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realized... there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw."

Vielka reached across, touching T'Challa's shoulder sympathetically, knowing the fact that this man had just brushed past Rogers' question would have left the Wakandan enraged.

"You're Sokovian. Is that what this is about?"

"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No. I'm here because I made a promise."

Rogers was silent for a moment, considering the man, before he spoke again. "You lost someone?"

The man behind the glass looked gravely back at Rogers. "I lost everyone. And so will you. An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumples from within? That's dead... forever." A screen before them lit up, Tony and Rogers moving to stand before it.

"I know that road. What is this?" Tony demanded, looking back to the man behind the window, but he said nothing in reply.

Vielka and T'Challa couldn't see what was being played on the screen, but they could hear it.

There was the sound of two vehicles, one sounded like a car, the other a motorbike. Then screeching tyres and a collision. The bike came to a stop, the engine being shut off and heavy footsteps on gravel and dead leaves.

"Help, my wife. Please. Help."

There was the sound of struggling.

"Sergeant Barnes?"

"Howard!" A woman screamed. There was the sound of something metallic making impact with bone. It was a sound Vielka knew well and she cringed, closing her eyes for a moment.

When she opened them, she could see the pain on Tony's face. He was seeing the murder of his parents at Barnes' hand.

There was the sound of footsteps and someone being dragged. Someone was weeping and breathing raggedly, in fear, it seemed. More heavy footsteps followed by a sickening crack that Vielka also recognised, cringing again.

Tony's face was now white as he kept watching.

There were more footsteps and the resounding noise of a gunshot.

Tony suddenly lunged at Barnes, and Vielka felt herself tense, a strange reaction to the action, she thought to herself. Rogers was quick to stop him.

"Tony. Tony!" Rogers exclaimed, trying to calm him, but Vielka knew there would be no calming him. She glanced to the window to seek the face of the man who had caused all of this, to find he was gone.

"T'Challa..." Vielka began, turning to T'Challa, only to find he too, was gone. "T'Challa?" she hissed touching the side of her face piece to try and get a read on his location.

"I must deal with this man," he replied through her ear piece.

"Crap!" she groaned inwardly, looking back into the vast chambers to see Rogers standing between Tony and Barnes.

"Did you know?" Tony asked Rogers quietly.

"I didn't know it was him."

"Don't bullshit me, Rogers! Did you know?" Tony demanded, angrily.

Rogers sighed. "Yes." Vielka felt like she saw Tony's heart break then and there. He stepped back, his chin jutting upwards twitchily.

Tony re-engaged his Iron Man helmet, before punching Rogers to the floor and deflecting gunfire from Barnes, before disarming him. He grabbed Barnes and flew across the chamber, slamming him onto the floor and then jumping on his arms.

Rogers' shield hit Iron Man, distracting him as he ran forward and barged him backwards but Tony managed to shoulder him to the floor and shackled his ankles with some type of high tech cuffs.

Barnes punched him but Tony just lifted him above his head before slamming him against an old piece of machinery. He raised a fist but Barnes grabbed it quickly, twisting it away from him as a rocket shot out of Iron Man's arm, exploding a short distance away. Barnes was able to punch Tony across the room and he took advantage of the break, high-tailing it up the gangways that led towards the top of the silo. Tony got back to his feet and fired another rocket at him, just missing.

Steve broke through his shackles with his shield, as a towering structure of pipeworks collapsed all around them. Tony flew back up to tackle Barnes, pinning him against the wall of the silo, before Barnes was able to get a hand around Tony's wrist, pulling his hand away from him.

"Do you even remember them?" Vielka heard Tony ask Barnes while pinning him to the wall, as she crept closer inside the door to keep an eye on the fight.

"I remember them all." She felt a pain shoot through her own head, grasping at her forehead for a moment. There was the rush of images in her head and she winced, before shaking her head free of the thoughts and continuing to watch the ensuing fight.

Tony and Barnes wrestled with each other, before they became unbalanced, being thrown down a level and landing heavily onto a gangway a few levels down.

Vielka bit her lip as she watched on. She knew she should go and track down T'Challa, she had been tasked with keeping him safe by T'Chaka and the kingdom of Wakanda. But there was a part of her that screamed to her to help Barnes, she wanted to help in some way. She stayed put contemplating her next move. "Ah, fuck it."

 **oOOo**

"Get out of here!" Rogers shouted to Barnes, hitting Tony as he tried to get back to his feet after falling from the gangway. He was quick to comply, taking off up the scaffolding towards the top of the missile silo. Tony fired at him, missing as Barnes leapt from gangway to gangway, stopping at a control panel and jamming at one of the buttons. The lid to the silo began to open slowly and Barnes began climbing his way to the very top, jumping from gangway to gangway again.

Rogers landed before Tony, looking apologetic. "It wasn't him, Tony. HYDRA had control of his mind!"

"Move!"

"It wasn't him!"

Tony tried to fly past Rogers, but the super soldier grabbed him by the ankle in mid air, smashing at his foot booster with his shield. Tony shot at a gangway above him, causing rubble and debris to rain down on Captain America and he released his ankle, but Tony's armour struggled to execute its flight properly.

Above him Barnes leapt from platform to platform, trying to get to the top of the silo and away. With stuttering jets, Tony gave chase, kicking out at Barnes, knocking him forward into the wall of the silo, and taking aim with his hand cannon, but the energy bolt rebounded off Steve's shield as he leapt between him and Barnes, shooting back at Tony. He dropped from the air, landing on a lower platform.

Rogers looked behind him at Barnes, shaking his head ruefully. "He's not going to stop. Go."

As Tony began to soar upwards again, Steve leapt down, shooting a wire at Tony from a device on his wrist, which wrapped around the Iron Man's neck and dragged him back down as he fell. Tony managed to loosen himself from the noose, landing on a lower platform, before deflecting Captain America's shield as it was thrown to try and knock him back down again. He took aim at Barnes as he approached the top of the silo, which was now nearly completely open.

"Come on, come on." he murmured to seemingly no one in particular. "I'm eyeballing it." His helmet's face plate retracted, revealing his face and he took aim again, closing one eye.

As he was about to fire, Vielka charged out from the shadows, tackling him roughly and dragging him several platforms down, before she let go of him and shoved him away from her, aiming to land on a gangway.

She was unable to estimate her landing properly with the spin they were in, and she landed roughly on the edge of one of the gangways, crying out in pain as she felt one of her ribs crack from the impact, as she tried to catch herself to stop from falling all the way back to the bottom.

She looked up to see Barnes peering down at her, concern written across his face.

"Go, for God's sake, get out of here!" she shouted, pulling herself up with a struggle.

He looked at her gratefully, before disappearing out of the silo. Vielka looked down to see Tony looking at her angrily. He re-engaged the faceplate of his helmet. "Oh boy."

Rogers threw his shield, hitting Tony across the chamber. "You better run too!" She quickly moved, jamming the same buttons Barnes had pressed, causing the silo to begin to slowly close again, before making the agonisingly painful climb up. She could hear the sounds of battle down below as she struggled to make it to the top, occasionally a small rocket exploding close to her, but she kept climbing without looking back down.

As she made it to the top, beginning to climb out of the silo, she turned to look back down finally, to see how Rogers was fairing, only to find another rocket fired in her direction. As she moved to climb out, the rocket hit the hinge of the lid, causing it to begin to tip back down quickly.

"Ah fuck," Vielka murmured, before leaping from the top of the silo as it began to collapse beneath her.

* * *

 **Loves it!**

 **xo**

 **Krayzee**


	6. Chapter 6

**G'day guys,**

 **Apologies, its been awhile between updates. With a busted hand and life getting in the way I just didn't have the time.**

 **To be honest, I prepped this chapter like two weeks ago, so I can't even remember whats in it...hahahaha**

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

T'Challa crept up behind the strange man as he sat listening to his phone. He found the behaviour particularly strange considering what he had just done.

He put his helmet down on the soft snow quietly, before approaching. "I almost killed the wrong man."

The man scoffed, barely turning around, before speaking. "Hardly an innocent one."

T'Challa narrowed his eyes, considering the man's words for a moment. Of course, the man was right, in a way. Sgt Barnes was indeed anything but innocent, technically, but even T'Challa could see that it was of no choice of his own, now. "Is this what you wanted? To see them rip each other apart."

The man sighed, looking at the phone in his hand. "My father lived outside the city. I thought we would be safe there. My son was excited. He could see the Iron Man from the car window. And I told my wife, "Don't worry. They are fighting in the city. We are miles from harm." When the dust cleared, and the screaming stopped. It took me two days until I found their bodies. My father... still holding my wife and son in his arms. And the Avengers... they went home. I knew I couldn't kill them. More powerful men than me have tried. But, if I could get them to kill each other?"

T'Challa clenched his teeth, every fibre in his body wanted to reach forward and grab him about the throat with a clawed hand, but something Vielka said had struck him, and stuck. 'Letting vengeance rule your heart can hinder your mind.'

"I'm sorry about your father. He seemed a good man," the man said, looking to the gun he now held in his hand. "With a dutiful son."

T'Challa stared at the man before him. This man, with a broken heart, who had lost his family, was blaming the Avengers for his loss. This man, who had now pitted friend, against friend. Who had single handedly, destroyed the Avengers. An average man, who had killed innocent people, to get to a small group of individuals.

"Vengeance has consumed you. It's consuming them." T'Challa looked back toward the bunker, thoughtful for a moment. "I am done letting it consume me," he murmured, retracting his claws. "Justice will come soon enough."

"Tell that to the dead." The man moved his hand gun to his chin, attempting to pull the trigger, but T'Challa was quick, pre-empting the man's idea to take his own life, and covering the barrel of the gun with his armoured hand as the gun fired. The Wakandan King wrapped an arm around the man's neck, squeezing it tightly enough to cut his airway and causing him to lose consciousness.

"The living are not done with you yet, my friend."

 **oOOo**

T'Challa carried the unconscious body of Helmut Zemo back to the Quinjet. He had checked his pockets for some form of identification before carrying him back to the jet, all he could find was a single piece of ID, finally giving T'Challa the name of his father's killer. He decided he would return the man to Everett Ross, to face punishment for his actions.

Captain America's Quinjet was now gone, but as T'Challa walked up the ramp into his own, he found it empty. There was no sign of Vielka, his last communication with her had been as he had gone to find Zemo and face him.

He secured his captor carefully, before walking back down the ramp to see if he could make contact with her. As he set foot back onto the snowy grounds, he noticed a cloud dust was fading into the distance from the far side of the bunker entrance. He was about to put his helmet back on, when he spotted two people approaching from the tree line to the right of the entrance to the bunker, one supporting the other.

As they got closer, he realised it was none other than Vielka, being supported by Captain America. His heart sank into the pit of his stomach as he saw her bloodied face, as she struggled to keep up with Rogers. T'Challa was quick to help, taking Vielka's other side. "What happened?" he demanded as they hurried back into the Quinjet.

"She took a bad knock saving Bucky, and then when the silo came down, I think she got caught up in it." Captain America explained, continuing to hurry with one of Vielka's arms slung over his shoulder. T'Challa furrowed his brow, glancing sideways at the Australian. Vielka clutched at one side of her rib cage, refusing to let T'Challa lift her arm, and she was struggling to breathe. She was bleeding from her lip and a large gash on the side of her face, as well as having a swollen eye. While he was confused as to why she would help the Winter Soldier, he realised now was not the time to question her motives.

They lowered her onto one of the seats, T'Challa carefully strapping her in, while Rogers looked over to Zemo, who was still unconscious and restrained in the corner.

"A man in despair will not always see the wrong of his ways," T'Challa said, standing again once Vielka was secure. Steve pressed his lips together, before giving a slight nod and looking to the ground, ruefully. "Where is Tony?"

Steve licked his lips nervously, before looking back out of the Quinjet regretfully. T'Challa didn't need to know anymore than the look on his face. It told him all he needed to know. Without another word, he strode towards the cockpit, preparing to return them all to Wakanda.

 **oOOo**

Vielka lay on her back in a hospital bed inside 'The Facility' as she had come to call it. She had been admitted with fractured ribs and ripped up ankles. T'Challa had been insistent that she spend at least a night under the hospital's care. It was now two days later, and still, he would not let her leave.

Steve Rogers was also within The Facility, the Wakandan King having invited him to stay in Wakanda, to keep out of the eye of the authorities seeking him for his crimes while trying to help Barnes.

She sighed, thinking about the fuss T'Challa had made over her. She felt guilty, for not feeling grateful but annoyed at his constant fussing, but she knew that within a couple of days her body would have repaired itself to full strength. This was not the first time she had been injured.

As she lay there, she heard footsteps approaching in the corridor outside. They weren't light, but rather quite heavy. She knew the owner before they had even set foot before her door.

"Hello Captain."

He faltered as he was about to knock on the door, looking behind him before looking back to her. She gave a smug grin, before beginning to push herself into a sitting position, Rogers moving as if to assist her.

"Thank you, but I'm fine," she said, sitting herself up before he could help her.

"Are you sure?" he asked, looking at her in mild concern as she winced slightly before settling herself.

"Positively perfect." She looked at him for a moment, seeing he looked slightly guilty. "What's wrong?"

"I wanted to apologise," he said, looking down, sticking his hands in his pockets. "You know, for, everything."

She furrowed her brow, not really sure what that meant. He had never outright attacked her, only defended himself or his best friend, and for the most part, she should be apologising to him.

"You know, for you getting injured by Tony."

Her eyes went wide and she gaped slightly. "You're apologising for him?"

"He was just upset, ya know, his parents and-"

"Captain, with all due respect, you shouldn't be apologising for his misgivings," she said severely, narrowing her eyes at him.

Steve looked at her in awe for a moment before nodding in resignation. "But he's my friend, or at least he was." He sighed, before looking her up and down. "And you, you got hurt helping Bucky. It wasn't your fight, but you did it."

She bit her lip. He was right, it wasn't her fight. Once again, she couldn't just walk away. She stayed silent, looking back down at her hands. A thought struck her and she looked up critically. "What about the rest of your team?"

Steve looked determined then, moving his hands from his pockets to his hips. "I'll get them out. I have to."

She nodded slowly, before giving a small smile. She slid her legs from the bed, standing up carefully. Steve looked stunned before trying to stop her. "What are you doing?"

She straightened and looked at him with a cunning grin. "I'm good to go, I'll get my things, shall I?"

"What?" Steve said in confusion before shaking his head. "But... Your ankles?"

"It's fine, all better. Come on, we'll get one of the hackers to help me get the schematics for The Raft." She strode past him before walking through the door way, without so much as a limp or sign of pain.

 **oOOo**

Although she had eventually been told to get back to her hospital bed by T'Challa, so the doctors could at least give her the all clear to leave, she had finally been discharged an hour later.

They now stood inside his mission room, discussing her plan.

"The Captain here, is too recognisable. They'll have a hard time pin pointing me. Covert was always one of my specialties, if I recall, from stories I've heard, your Howling Commandos did do a bit of covert, but i think our two versions of the method are slightly different."

"That's true," Steve replied, looking contemplative. "But it's still way too risky, if the cameras spot her or even if Tony or someone is there, they'll link her back to you."

T'Challa pressed his lips together, looking back to Vielka, she seemed extremely confident in herself. While he was sure she could manage such a task, there was still quite a high risk to it. She had only just been injured, although the doctors told him she had healed extremely quickly, her broken ribs already mended.

T'Challa moved to sit on one of the desks, deep in thought. Her plan was sound enough, she would source the schematics for the prison where Rogers' team was being held, utilise local resources to get there, but her plan needed to be refined once they received the schematics for the prison.

T'Challa looked to Steve finally, putting his hands on his hips. "She is right, Captain, only she will be able to infiltrate the prison with the least chance of being seen and recognised."

"But, it's at great risk to your kingdom," Steve replied. "After everything in Bucharest and Leipzig, she has links to your country. If she is seen, they're going to want to come looking."

"If I'm caught, I feign ignorance and T'Challa renounces that I'm associated with his kingdom. Easy fix."

T'Challa pursed his lips looking at her severely. "I would do no such thing. Your place is here, and I will not renounce that, ever, regardless of the situation." Both Steve and Vielka's eyebrows raised in surprise, and T'Challa felt slightly bashful for a moment. He had perhaps been a bit too passionate in the way he had spoke of her. T'Challa noticed a pink tinge cross Vielka's cheeks as she looked away.

"I wouldn't expect either of you to help me, T'Challa," Steve finally said, breaking the awkward silence. "It's a great risk to her. You've already done a lot for me. I can do this one on my own."

"No," T'Challa replied. "We will help you, I will make sure that Vielka can get in and out without being seen." He looked back to Vielka, who gave him the slightest of nods, accepting his decision. "I trust her skill and judgement, immensely."

 **oOOo**

Vielka sat in front of a computer screen, T'Challa's most trusted hacker beside her as she typed away on the computer.

"How do you plan on getting the schematics for a prison that technically doesn't exist?" he asked, leaning forward to watch her tap away on the keys.

"Easy, I'm going to hack Everett Ross's laptop."

"Why his?"

"Cause he's a dick."

The hacker laughed before turning to his own computer. "Want me to run interference on the system?"

"Go crazy, kid."

It only took them another half hour to break in, but she got in and out, downloading the schematics and leaving a false trail.

She returned to the mission room to load the schematics onto the big screen and plan, running her finger along the screen to figure out how best to infiltrate the prison. She wasn't sure how long she had been planning, when she heard the door swing open.

She turned to see T'Challa there. "Y'Raga said I would find you here," he said, walking into the room. She said nothing, looking back to the screen and writing notes on the prison in her notepad. "He told me you were successful in your search." T'Challa stopped beside her, looking over the screen critically as she glanced sideways at him, continuing to write. "Are you sure you can do this? The security system on this prison is like no other," he murmured, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"I'm like no other," she murmured with a smirk.

 **oOOo**

He gave a soft laugh, before turning to look at her. She met his gaze, raising her eyebrows expectantly. "You must be careful."

"You should stop listening to Rogers. If I get caught, I'll figure a way out. You won't need to risk Wakanda for me."

T'Challa sighed, shaking his head slightly. "You misunderstand me, I do not worry for Wakanda, I worry for you, for your wellbeing." He reached out to touch her shoulder, and he felt her stiffen under his hand. "You are of great importance to me."

She looked from his hand to his face, her expression seeming conflicted and confused. He himself, felt slightly confused, for some reason feeling the urge to admit to his true feelings for her.

From the time she had joined him in Wakanda, during their stay in Europe and until now, his feelings for the Australian had steadily grown. He wasn't sure what his feelings were, but he knew he felt strongly for her. He valued her opinion, her knowledge, her strength in both combat and mind, her company and when she was willing, although rare, her conversation.

She wrinkled her nose slightly, before taking a step away. "T'Challa, don't misunderstand me, while I appreciate what you're feeling, I assure you, we could never be anything more than platonic."

Even though she spoke so bluntly, and conveyed her own thoughts on his admission, he found he felt no ill will towards her, or even devastation at her words. It dawned on him that perhaps the feelings he had weren't the ones he had first thought. He took a step towards her again, smiling warmly. "That is more than I could ever ask for. I am very glad to have you by my side, Vielka," he said with a nod, before roughly grabbing her and forcing her into a hug, laughing as he did so.

She fought back at first, before giving a light laugh and returning the gesture. He felt her poke him in the ribs after a short while, and he released her willingly, looking down on her face to see a pink tinge there again. "Let us get these plans underway," he said, picking up a tablet and beginning to tap away at the screen.

 **oOOo**

Vielka stood in the mission room, explaining the plan that she and T'Challa had devised to Rogers. T'Challa had been called away to deal with a crisis within the kingdom, it seemed that there was a group of people within the kingdom who wished to usurp the new King. She didn't know the full details yet, but she was also keeping a close eye on proceedings, occasionally receiving intel from Shuri.

While she knew T'Challa was keen to rescue the members of Captain America's team, she also knew that his duty as King meant he had to prioritise, and she had urged him to focus his attentions there, she could handle this.

She turned to look at Steve after explaining the plan, to see him looking thoughtful, the super soldier had his lips pressed together in a thin line as he looked over the schematics and planning on the screen before them.

"You've done this before, haven't you?" he asked finally, looking back at her with a questioning look upon his face. "Military background?"

She grimaced slightly. She could be working with the man for awhile though, so she thought it best to give him the bare essentials. "Australian Special Forces. Corporal Vielka Patterson, at your service, sir."

He nodded, raising his eyebrows with mild surprise. "Is that where you were, ya know, enhanced?"

She narrowed her eyes slightly before answering again. "No."

He looked at her for a moment, as if considering whether to continue with his line of questioning, but looked back to the screen in front of him instead. "So you're sure you can do this?"

"No worries, mate. Too easy," she said, folding her arms across her chest with a quick nod.

He looked back at her with a furrowed brow before a grin crossed his features, showing a set of dazzling white teeth. "Wow, so you do sound like those Australians you see on tv."

She rolled her eyes. "Not really." Knowing that Captain America had only been thawed out for a few years now, it would make sense that he might have watched a lot of tv in the early days of his reanimation. That probably meant a fair bit of Paul Hogan, Steve Irwin and even Hugh Jackman, all who carried thick Australian accents and analogies even back in her days.

"Can you say crikey for me?"

"No, Australians don't actually say that."

"Can I call you Paddy? You know, Patterson, Paddy..."

She took a deep breath to resist the urge of punching the Captain in his nose, narrowing her eyes, before turning and leaving the room.

"Can you barbeque shrimp?" Steve shouted after her.

 **oOOo**

Vielka scanned the landscape before her, being careful to hug the sea floor as she swam. The swell and under current were strong, but she used the rocks and sea weed to pull herself along when the current was strong.

She could make out the dark outline of The Raft up ahead. The next part of the plan was easily going to be the hardest part, but she was confident she would be able to get in.

As she swam closer, she found the markings she was looking for. She checked her watch, she was right on time. She pressed herself onto the sea floor as low as she could go without floating back up. She removed the air tank from her back, took one last big gulp of air and released it, letting it roll away on the sea floor.

Within seconds, a section of the wall slid down, a small vessel appeared, shooting out of the opening, and Vielka slipped inside, quick as lightning.

The wall slid shut behind her, and she was quick to squash herself against the floor of the tube she found herself in, as a laser scanned the area while the water level lowered. She held her breath, pulling herself along under the water to avoid detection by the laser security scanner. She counted down the minutes in her head, as she carefully cycled the breath she held.

Finally, she popped her head up, gasping for air as the water barely covered her now, just as the laser scanner stopped, centimetres from her head. She began sucking in more breaths of air, shaking her head slightly to rid herself of the lightheaded feeling that had begun to creep over her.

She pulled the slim pack from her back, undoing the water proof seal and taking out a holstered handgun, her face piece, her twin swords and an electrical device that T'Challa had made up to help her break codes within the prison quickly. She unzipped her wetsuit, slipping out of it and checking her armour, before slipping her swords into the back. She clipped the holster around her thigh, before checking the ammo.

She'd have to be mindful of her ammunition, what she had in the magazine was all she had, until she could steal some more.

Once she was set, she slipped the wetsuit back into her slim pack, before securing it onto her back.

She touched the electrical device T'Challa had provided her to the door locking mechanism, waiting a moment until it flashed green, sliding open

"Time to play."

 **oOOo**

The lights flickered inside the prison cells, catching everyone's attention. Sam stood up cautiously, moving to the door of his cell, looking out.

He could just make out Scott and Clint in their cells, then spotted Wanda for the first time in what felt like days. He wasn't sure if it had been, there was no natural light in here. He was only guessing by the meals they were given, the last which would have been dinner, hours ago.

"Did you guys see that too?" Scott asked, calling out.

"Yeah," Clint replied, craning to look around. Sam saw the five guards in the chamber talking on their radios with a sense of urgency, beginning to move to the one door in and out.

"Something's up," Sam said, narrowing his eyes slightly, to try and see what was happening.

They all watched with keen interest, as the guards stacked at the door, high powered rifles raised with their aim trained on the door.

Suddenly, all the lights inside the chamber and the prison cells went out, emergency lighting activating and dousing the area in red light. Sam continued to watch the door, although it was hard to see now.

There was a bang as something heavy hit the metal door, hard. Sam noticed a nervous shudder move through the guards as it happened again, and again. Sam and Clint glanced at each other, the same thought seemingly passing through their heads.

There was an explosion, followed by gunfire as the emergency lights were shot out inside the main chamber, the area going black except for the dull red lights from their prison cells. Sam tried to peer into the darkness to see what was happening as there was more gunfire and shouting, the only evidence of what was happening was the muzzle flash of the guards' weapons.

Within seconds of the fight starting, the room was silent again. Sam saw Wanda move back from her cell door warily, while Scott's face was nearly pressed right up against the glass in anticipation.

Sam narrowed his eyes as he made out movement in the darkness, the slightest sound of footsteps tapping on the metal floors detectable. "Who's there?" he called into the darkness.

"Room service," was the reply, but no one stepped into the light, the footsteps stopping at the top of the stairs. The voice was definitely female, with an accent he vaguely recognised. He had heard similar while serving in the Middle East, she was either British or Australian. "This all of you?"

"Depends who we're talking to, I don't recognise your voice," Clint said, leaning an elbow against the side of his prison cell door.

"You wouldn't." There was silence for a moment before she spoke again. "No sign of Sgt Barnes?"

Sam and Clint glanced at each other warily, before Sam narrowed his eyes trying to make out something in the darkness, to no avail. "Who are you? No one calls him Sgt Barnes anymore."

"I'm here to get you out," she replied, Sam could hear her rummaging through something. "We haven't got long until reinforcements get here, I would say."

Sam saw Wanda move toward her cell door again, also trying to make out the mysterious visitor. He looked back to Clint, if the look on his face was anything to go by, he seemed to share the same concerns.

"Hang on, I know that voice," Scott piped up suddenly, squinting into the darkness. "I've heard it recently, but where?"

Sam looked back into the darkness, as he heard footsteps approach his cell door. A black clad figure moved into the light, his eyes going wide as the light slowly spread to her face. "You!"

"Surprise."

Standing before him was the same woman who had accompanied the Black Panther into battle. She wore a fitted black body suit that was similar to the one the Wakandan King had worn into battle, with the exception of only wearing a partial face piece that covered a wide area across her eyes.

She flicked her long black ponytail over her shoulder as she pulled a pack from her back and put it on the ground before she started going through it. "Give me a sec."

"Why the hell are you here?" Clint demanded, looking at Sam in confusion.

"Captain's request," she replied bluntly, pulling out an electrical device from the bag. She placed it against the locking mechanism on the wall between his and Wanda's cell. There was a beep and she furrowed her brow.

"What makes you think we believe you, how do we know this isn't some ploy to get us to give up the Captain?" Scott shouted across the room. She turned her head sideways slightly, but they couldn't tell who she was looking at, her eyes were blacked out by the face piece she wore across her eyes.

She slowly drew a sword from her back, Sam recognising it from their battle in Leipzig, before turning her head back to the locking mechanism in the wall. She stabbed the sword into the device, the crackling of circuits being broken could be heard, before she ripped the mechanism casing off. She moved her face closer to the locking mechanism, before sheathing the sword, grabbing wires and touching them together.

The doors to Sam and Wanda's cells slid open, Sam jumping back in surprise. The woman didn't say anything, but moved to Clint and Scott's cells, doing the same with theirs, while Sam quickly moved to check on Wanda, seeing if he could get the collar used to suppress her powers off.

He was still trying to figure it out when the woman returned.

"There's no way to get it off, if you tamper with it, it will shoot a sedative into me," Wanda murmured miserably.

Sam stood up, sighing, before he glanced sideways at the woman. She stood at the same height as him, so had to stoop to analyse the collar around Wanda's neck. He saw her purse her lips slightly, before she pulled out the device she had used earlier, unsuccessfully.

She walked to stand behind Wanda, slipping her hand under her hair. Both Sam and Clint moved to stop her, but she simply lifted Wanda's hair out of the way, before looking closer at the collar.

She wrinkled her nose for a moment, before lifting the device in her hand up to the back of the collar.

"What is that?" Scott asked inquisitively, peering around Wanda for a better look.

"Hacking device," she replied curtly, not taking her eyes from it.

"If it doesn't work and sedates Wanda?" Clint demanded.

"Then I'm carrying her out of here, although I suspect from the state of her skin she hasn't eaten properly in days, so I'll probably end up doing that anyway," she replied in an offhand manner. Sam looked to Wanda's face, to see her looking guilty.

There was a soft beep and the collar disengaged, and it seemed like they all breathed a sigh of relief, except for the strange woman.

"Right, get your gear, we've got to hail us a taxi," she said, moving to leave.

"Hang on, we haven't agreed to go anywhere with you, yet," Sam said.

"Do we all get a say in this, because I'm kind of inclined to go with her, to be honest," Scott replied, looking from Sam to Clint.

"Weren't you the one that said it was a ploy to give up Rogers?" the woman asked, raising an eyebrow as she walked past him to the stairs. Scott grimaced at being caught out, but moved to follow her. "It's up to you, the Captain wanted you out, but we weren't risking him getting caught, which is why I'm here. Whether you come with me is entirely up to you, just means less work for me."

Sam looked to Clint, to see him looking back at him expectantly. He sighed. "I guess it can't hurt..." He replied slowly as Wanda strode past the pair, apparently already making her mind up.

"There's one way to find out what her intentions are," she said, reaching for the woman.

"No, don't!" she shouted, trying to bat Wanda's hand away. It was too late though, even Sam saw that the contact was enough for Wanda to catch a glimpse inside the woman's head. Wanda's eyes went wide as she took in a lot of information very quickly, collapsing to her knees as the woman stood looking down at her. "Stay out of my head, if you know what's good for you."

Sam moved to check on Wanda, who was quiet for a moment, taking deep breaths as she tried to calm herself. She looked up when she had recovered sufficiently. "She's telling the truth, Steve sent her."

Sam could tell from Wanda's reaction, that wasn't all she had seen about the mysterious woman.

 **oOOo**

Vielka led them through the corridors of The Raft prison, often stepping over the unconscious bodies of guards and staff here and there. She could feel Barton and Wilson's eyes on her the whole time, they still didn't trust her.

It didn't matter to her, she had a job to do, she wasn't here to make friends.

As she rounded a corner, she heard something further down the corridor, footsteps. She dropped to a crouch quickly, motioning to the others to stop within the previous corridor.

"What is it?" Scott whispered, although he may as well have shouted, he was so loud.

She peered through the dimly lit corridor, hearing the slightest of footsteps, they were so light though, she couldn't tell exactly where they were coming from, and slowly began creeping from their corner, motioning for them to stay hidden.

She stayed close to the wall of the corridor, slowly and quietly drawing a sword from her back. She had barely pulled the tip of its blade from its sheath when she heard someone drop down from above, behind her.

Vielka spun around quickly, bringing her sword about to strike at her attacker. There was a clash as metal struck metal, a baton blocking Vielka's sword.

She scowled as she took in the flame red hair of her assailant. "Black Widow."

"Banzai. Fancy seeing you here," Black Widow replied. "I don't suppose you know anything about the whereabouts of one Captain Steve Rogers?"

Vielka shoved her away, before striking at her with a left hook, but the Avenger ducked it easily. "And if I do?"

"Well, there's some people who want to speak with him," she replied, kicking out Vielka, but she batted her foot away easily.

"Sorry, he's not taking calls right now," Vielka replied, bringing her sword about, trying to slash across the red head, to at least push her back. "Besides, I'm just leaving."

Vielka slashed and weaved as the smaller woman continued to evade her attacks, Black widow eventually flipping over her. She tried to grab Vielka by the neck from behind, but Vielka was taller and grabbed her by the arm, twisting out of her grasp before kicking her backwards.

"Do you really agree with Tony and the UN? You want to be under the control of the people who have a tendency to prefer red tape to action?"

"Have you forgotten which side you and T'Challa were fighting on?" Black Widow demanded.

Vielka raised her sword towards the red head, cocking her head to the side as she glared at her. "Have you forgotten who brought Zemo back? We did what we set out to do, we brought T'Chaka's killer to justice. It may have taken some convincing, but we brought the right one back."

The shorter woman narrowed her eyes at Vielka, as if taking in what she had said but not fully convinced. Vielka saw Clint, Sam, Wanda and Scott walk out from the corner, peering at both Black Widow and herself.

"Natasha," Clint said, softly. Black Widow whipped around, baton raised in alarm.

"Clint, what are you doing out of your cell?" she demanded, before looking to the others. "What are you all doing out of your cell?"

"She got us out," Clint replied. "We're going with her Nat, whether you like it or not."

"Think about your family, Clint," Natasha pleaded, making Vielka roll her eyes.

"Yeah because being imprisoned here is so much better for them," she sneered, beginning to walk away. "I'm going to go and ready some transport, whenever you're ready."

She strode down the hallway, leaving the former Avengers to continue their discussion.

 **oOOo**

Vielka landed the stolen chopper, shutting down the engine before disembarking, quickly followed by the four freed prisoners, and Natasha. Clint and Sam had apparently talked some sense into her, convincing her that the right place to be, was with Rogers.

She began walking into the forest, following a familiar path by the moonlight.

"Where are we going?" Wanda asked, the confusion evident in her voice.

"Just follow me," Vielka answered, continuing to walk through the forest until they approached a clearing.

"Seriously, where are we going? I mean, now's not really the time to be going hiking, is it?" Scott asked, panting as Vielka stopped ahead of them.

She looked back at him with a slightly annoyed expression. "How did you ever get picked by Rogers?" The man was ridiculously unfit and she had endured an hour of his whinging as she had led them through the forest.

He balked at her verbal jibe, but she turned and walked away, moving further into the clearing. She hit a button on her wrist device, stopping and looking up expectantly.

Within the space before her, the scenery appeared to bubble slightly, making everyone but her stand on edge. She smirked at their reaction as the cloaking system disengaged.

"Whoa..." Sam murmured, staring at the Quinjet as it formed in the moonlight.

"Quit gawking, we've got to get out of here," she barked as the loading ramp lowered. She hurried aboard, moving into the cockpit and began to power up the aircraft.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked, sliding into the co-pilot's seat.

"Somewhere that no one would dare touch you, even if they knew you were there."

 **oOOo**

T'Challa watched as the Quinjet banked sharply, smirking slightly, he had finally found a flaw in Vielka's skill set. She was a lousy pilot. She landed the aircraft, the ramp lowered and five curious faces peered out with interest.

T'Challa narrowed his eyes, a familiar red head catching his eyes. He leant towards the Captain who stood watching by his side. "It would seem our fisherman plucked an extra fish from the ocean depths."

Steve looked confused for a moment, looking back to the Quinjet as Vielka strode down the ramp, her rescued cargo trailing behind her and staring in wonder. His eyes narrowed when he saw Natasha Romanoff.

T'Challa stepped forward first, to greet the newcomers. "Welcome to Wakanda, I trust Vielka briefed you on your flight?"

"Kinda..." Clint said, still looking around curiously. "Um, why are we here? Oh, and hey Cap."

Steve moved before T'Challa to greet everyone, stopping before Natasha last. "Romanoff, a little surprised to see you here."

"Yeah, well, thought I would just see how this one plays out," she replied, with a shrug.

T'Challa watched with keen interest as Steve looked at her apprehensively for a moment, before the grim expression on his face broke into a smile and he reached out to hug her.

"Glad you could join us," he said as he pulled away. He looked to Vielka as she began to walk past the greeting group. "Hey."

She stopped and glanced at him, an indifferent look upon her face. "Yes, Captain?"

"Thanks."

T'Challa saw one of her eyebrows twitch, but her face remained expressionless, as she gave him a curt nod before moving to stand before him. "T'Challa."

"Welcome back," he greeted her, smiling. She gave a small smile in return, the tiniest of dimples appearing near her mouth, before she continued into The Facility.

Steve moved to stand next to T'Challa, watching as Vielka headed for the door. "She's hard to read."

"I know," T'Challa replied, not taking his eyes from her back. "That's what makes her so dangerous." He glanced back at Steve, to see him looking at him with raised eyebrows, before turning to the newcomers. "Come, let's get you settled in."

* * *

 **Ooohhh, that's what happened in this chapter!**

 **Love it.**

 **xo**

 **Krayzee**


	7. Chapter 7

**Oh Hi!**

 **Long time no see. So, I took a massive break as I was waiting for Black Panther to come out, but then I realised I had made a minor mistake in the time line -_-**

 **So here is the finish to this story, the story continues in Forgotten.**

 **Forgotten will be updated within the next month too.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

Vielka was taking some getting used to having so many people living within The Facility, she spent whatever free time she had training in the gym, trying to avoid conversing with them as much as possible.

It wasn't that she disliked them, but she couldn't relate to these people. These people had lived normal lives, amongst normal people, at some point in the last few years. She had not.

She'd rather spend her time with Nakia, at least there would be no awkward conversation, just glaring.

She especially avoided Natasha and Steve, both seemed to want to talk to her, always being way too nice for her liking. Steve especially, seemed to really try and be chummy with her in that ridiculous, nice, all American guy way you used to see on the tv.

Natasha just seemed snoopy and suspicious of her, not yet trusting her. It was no skin off her nose, T'Challa trusted her, that's all that mattered.

Vielka picked up the snatch bar and began her third set of deadlifts. She had her ear phones in her ears, listening to upbeat music to keep herself at a steady rhythm. She was so focused she didn't notice someone else had entered the gym.

As she placed the snatch bar back down on the floor, standing up straight and stretching out her back, she was startled by movement to her right. She jumped sideways, on guard immediately, with her hands up ready to defend herself.

Rogers held his hands up innocently, as she reefed her ear phones from her ears. "Jesus Christ, Rogers, are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Sorry, I didn't realise," he motioned to her ear phones apologetically. "I'm still trying to get used to some of this stuff."

She looked him over once, pursing her lips together, before rolling her eyes and sitting back down on the weight bench behind her training area. She knew what he meant, he was still getting used to the new technology of the 21st century. That had to be hard on him, going from an era when the biggest technological and scientific achievement was him.

Rogers leaned against a machine, his arms folded across his chest as he looked at her.

She sighed, looking back up at him from her spot on the weight bench. He was wearing a training shirt that seemed to be straining to keep his bulging muscles contained, and loose fitting track pants, so he obviously had an intention to train, yet he stood there looking at her.

"Is there something I can help you with, Captain?" she demanded.

"I'm trying to figure you out," he replied simply, looking at her curiously. "You're Australian, you've got all the skills that scream black ops military, but you're here, working for T'Challa. Add to that, you're clearly enhanced, maybe not quite to the same extreme as some, but enhanced all the same. And you agreed to rescuing a team that fought against you, no less, and even bringing back someone who was sent to stop you."

She clenched her jaw, looking away from him as she bent down to pick up a water bottle by her feet. She didn't answer him straight away, simply lifting the bottle to her mouth and sipping from the bottle, her eyes looking straight at him. "Yeah, and?"

"Why?"

She cocked her head slightly, taking in the Super Soldier, contemplating how best to answer him. She wondered herself, why she still did what she was doing. "Tell me, Captain, why do you continue to help civilisation, when for a time, they forgot about you?"

 **oOOo**

His eyes went wide as he stared at her in surprise at her question, before furrowing his brow. "Because it's the right thing to do."

She stood up, picking up her towel as she did so and flinging it over her shoulder, before putting her bottle back to her lips. Steve stared at her for a moment as she didn't answer his question.

"You've answered your own question, Captain," she replied, flicking her hair over shoulder nonchalantly.

"But why?"

She wore a high necked active wear jacket, which he thought was peculiar considering she was working out. He could see from the colour of her cheeks that she had been sweating, although the gym was air conditioned.

She was not a short woman, but still stood shorter than he, but even he was well aware of how intimidating her presence was. It was her eyes, they were a mesmerising golden-brown colour that seemed to glow when the light hit them just right, but if she narrowed them, well, it was like being caught in the glare of a wild animal that considered you a meal.

She turned as if to walk away, but stopped midway, meeting Steve's gaze. "Everything happens for a reason, Captain."

She strode away, her black pony tail swinging from side to side as she walked away.

 **oOOo**

T'Challa saw Vielka leave the gym, stopping at the door to peer inside. He had heard her conversing with someone, curious as to who she had finally spoken to of his new guests. He had noticed her avoiding everyone.

It was concerning, but he also understood that speaking to people was uncomfortable for her. She had spent a long time alone, living a rough life, not to mention she probably did not want to divulge much information about herself.

Inside the gym, he found Steve, who was standing looking rather confused for a moment, he looked up and spotted T'Challa, moving to speak to him.

"Captain, is everything alright?" He asked, although he knew that look well.

"It's about Banzai."

"Corporal Patterson?" He feigned ignorance.

"Yes, who is she?" he demanded. "What is she?"

T'Challa narrowed his eyes at Steve's second question. "She is Vielka, chosen guard to the Black Panther and my confidant."

"Can she be trusted though? How was she enhanced and who by?"

T'Challa stared at the Super Soldier intently. He was aware of some of her history, he had done some further research after their return to Wakanda, but he kept the information to himself. He had not even discussed the information with Vielka. "This is not a conversation I am comfortable discussing without Corporal Patterson's permission. All you need to know is that I trust her with my life."

Steve furrowed his brow, seemingly dissatisfied with the answer, but did not press the matter, instead turning and walking towards the gym equipment.

 **oOOo**

Vielka kept to herself, rarely conversing with the new guests to Wakanda. T'Challa had her looking into different aspects of Scott and Clint's life, trying to find information or make discreet contact with his family, but she didn't have much luck. Apart from training or doing menial tasks for T'Challa, Vielka rarely left her room in an effort to avoid the others.

One evening, there was a light tapping at her door. She opened it cautiously, finding Wanda standing there with a bowl of pungent, red, thick soup looking food.

"I thought I would bring you some dinner, because I never see you eat," Wanda said hurriedly, as Vielka looked suspiciously at her. Vielka pressed her lips into a thin line, opening the door wider, allowing Wanda access. The young Sokovian walked in, carefully placing the bowl on Vielka's desk. She looked around the room quickly, while Vielka stood waiting for her to leave at the door, but Wanda looked at her nervously, before speaking again. "I wanted to let you know, I'm sorry for what happened in The Raft," she said softly, looking slightly uncomfortable as she apologised.

Vielka cocked her head to one side thoughtfully, debating whether to continue the conversation or not. "How much did you see?" she asked curiously. It had only been the briefest of contacts, but Vielka knew it wouldn't take much for her to get information from her mind.

Wanda looked nervous for a moment before she spoke again. "I'm sorry that happened to you." Vielka bit her lip, narrowing her eyes at the Sokovian. So she had seen it all. "Don't worry, I won't say anything to anyone else."

Vielka released a sigh, nodding to Wanda before moving towards the desk to look at the dish Wanda had made. "Thanks." She picked up the spoon and began moving the red liquid about the bowl curiously. She could make out a little meat and herbs, steam rising from the bowl, the smell was quite herby, it did actually make her mouth water slightly.

"I am curious, though," Wanda spoke up again. Vielka glanced at her, still stooped over the bowl. "Why would you fight for Tony if you, yourself, know what it was like for Bucky?"

Vielka was taken aback by the straight forward question. She stood up straight to look at Wanda, thoughtful for a moment, before she answered. "I didn't know if it was true, not until he and I fought at Leipzig. It occurred to me when he told me he didn't want to hurt me that something wasn't right, but at the same time, I was also under orders to detain him."

Wanda furrowed her brow, before a warm smile spread across her face. "Steve told us what you did for Bucky in the end, that you put your own life on the line to save him."

Vielka pressed her lips into a thin line, feeling her cheeks heat a bit at the look of awe from Wanda, and was quick to look away. "Yeah, well, it was the right thing to do." She stooped low again, blowing steam from the spoonful of red goo, before carefully touching it to her lips. She licked her lips and raised her eyebrows. "This is pretty good."

"At least you like it," Wanda said, with a slight indignant tone.

"Why? Who doesn't like it?" she asked in surprise, sitting at the desk.

"Sam and Clint," Wanda answered with a perturbed look on her face. Vielka raised her eyebrows as she continued to eat.

"They're American males, Wanda, if it doesn't come between two buns, they don't actually classify it as food," Vielka replied sardonically, taking another mouthful.

Wanda laughed as she walked towards the door. "Well, next time I'll make sure I put some bread with it."

"And deep fry it, then they might actually recognise it as food."

They both laughed heartily.

 **oOOo**

T'Challa looked to where Vielka sat talking to Wanda, he was pleased to see she was finally starting to socialise with some of their guests. At this stage, it would seem they would be staying together awhile. It had already been a month, Scott and Clint had both been relocated to be closer to their families.

He had a task for Vielka today, Steve had been asking for assistance to track down Sergeant Barnes again, and to bring him back to the safety of Wakanda. They had been in discussions about how best to seek him out and it was decided that the two women were best for the task which would require some undercover work as well as tracking, but it would come down to Vielka.

T'Challa moved to stand in front of Vielka, who looked up expectantly, placing her coffee mug down. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Corporal, I have a task for you," he said, before looking to Wanda. "If I may borrow her for a while."

"Of course, I shall talk to you later, Vielka."

Vielka stood, placing her mug into the dishwasher before moving to follow T'Challa, who led her from the living quarters. He looked sideways at her, smiling. "I see you've grown close to Wanda. That is good to see."

"She's lonely, it was the least I could do." The thought of Wanda being lonely with four other people living within the quarters baffled him for a moment, and it must have showed on his face. "She doesn't come from a military background, T'Challa. She's basically a teen here, amongst seasoned fighters."

He understood then, she didn't have the life experience the others had. While the young Sokovian had seen and done things that had her mature quickly, she still lacked the same life experience of the two former soldiers and former SHIELD operative.

Vielka, on the other hand, was able to associate in some small way with the girl, or at least made the effort to.

"Anyway, what's going on?" She asked as he led her towards the mission room. He held open the door and ushered her inside, she quickly entered as directed. He didn't miss her balking at the sight of Natasha, Steve and Sam in the room. "Seriously..."

"Oh, hey, Paddy," Steve greeted, smiling warmly. T'Challa saw Vielka's cheeks go faintly pink and she narrowed her eyes at the Captain. He had seen her react that way to the nick name by the Captain a few times now, he wasn't sure whether it was embarrassment or internal seething, but dared not ask either. "Glad you could join us."

"Exactly what are 'us' doing?" Sam asked with interest.

T'Challa picked up the tablet lying on the main table, swiping across it a few times. He brought up a picture on the screen and noted that Vielka's brow immediately furrowed at the sight.

"Why are we going after Sergeant Barnes?" she demanded.

"We need to bring him in, for his own safety," Steve answered, looking to the screen as T'Challa brought up Intel from different government websites. "There's a lot of people out there that would like to get their hands on him. It's not safe out there for him."

"Yeah, but how do we know what Intel is legit and what's not?" Natasha asked, scanning her eyes across the screen.

"That is where Steve thinks five sets of eyes are better than two," T'Challa replied, activating three more screens around the room. He saw Vielka look from Steve to himself, giving her a slight shake of the head. He knew what she was thinking, it was the same as what he was thinking. Sergeant Barnes doesn't want to be found, so finding him would not be easy.

In saying that, he had found Vielka, who also had not wanted to be found, so he knew they could find Sergeant Barnes eventually, the problem was he had taken three years to find Vielka.

 **oOOo**

Vielka yawned, covering her mouth, before swiping a finger across the screen. Another dead end.

She'd been searching through documents for weeks now. T'Challa's Intel pool was pulling any chatter they could at this point. Homeless, degenerates, suspicious neighbours, anything and everything. She got to wondering if this was how he had found her. She smirked slightly at the thought.

She flicked the current document she was scanning over to the recycling bin of her tablet, allowing the next file to open, expecting to find another dud report.

She scanned the report quickly, finding nothing concrete, only circumstantial information. She wrinkled her nose and stretched, leaning all the way back in her chair. Everyone else had thrown in the towel for the night, she planned to finish off the latest Intel reports and head that way herself.

As she straightened again, moving to stand, she bumped the tablet screen, zooming into a picture of a newspaper article that was attached to another report. The article of interest was only a small one, a story of a child that had been saved in a forest outside Bucharest, telling a tale of a strange man who had found him when he had wandered off. The picture was for a different article altogether, but there, in the zoomed in picture, was Sergeant Barnes, in the background of the picture.

She could recognise those stormy blue eyes anywhere.

She checked the location of the image, it was Bucharest. She furrowed her brow in confusion, the date was recent. Why on earth would he return to where he was first found again after the Vienna bombing?

She picked up the tablet, running through The Facility and to the communications room, dialling in T'Challa's personal number.

She only had to wait a few short moments before T'Challa answered, albeit, sounding sleepy. "Vielka, what is it?" he asked, although the tone of his voice said he was alert.

"I found him."

 **oOOo**

Vielka sat watching as Steve, Sam and Natasha walked into the mission room, her arms folded across her chest as she waited impatiently. T'Challa had told her to brief them, so they were ready for when he arrived to properly plan how they would tackle picking up Sgt Barnes from Bucharest, again.

"What's the news?" Sam asked, smothering a yawn. Steve and Natasha both looked at her expectantly.

Vielka activated the main screen, showing the image on the newspaper. "He went back to familiar ground."

They all stared at the screen with wide eyes as she motioned to the caption under the image.

"Bucharest? Why the hell would he go back there? That's where he was tagged the first time," Sam asked in disbelief.

"When you think about it, it's a smart idea," Natasha replied, looking thoughtful.

"No one would have thought to look there," Vielka agreed. "As it was, I found that by pure chance, and a little sleepiness."

Steve looked mildly impressed at Vielka before staring back at the image. "So we go to Bucharest?"

"Uh, no. YOU, don't go anywhere," Vielka answered firmly, earning her a look of disapproval from Steve as she deactivated the screen. "You're still a wanted man."

"He will willingly come with me," Steve argued. "He's not going to come willingly with anyone else."

"Who said anything about bringing him back willingly?" Vielka muttered under her breath, looking away in annoyance. Steve moved to take a step towards her, having heard her.

"Cap, Vielka's right," Natasha said, moving to stand in front of him, Sam standing beside her.

"None of us can leave without attracting attention," Sam added.

Steve glared at his two comrades before sighing in resignation. "Well then, who can get him?"

"I was thinking Corporal Patterson would be the best candidate, actually," Natasha said as T'Challa entered the room.

Vielka balked at the mention of her name. "Aye?"

T'Challa looked at her with an amused expression on his face, as Natasha looked at her pointedly. "You said yourself, tracking is one of your specialties. Remember, Aché?"

She cringed, before sighing. "I knew I was going to regret meeting you."

 **oOOo**

And so it was, Vielka found herself in Bucharest once again. She was working under the alias of a travelling documentary director, looking for mysterious stories from across the globe. It annoyed her to no end.

While she was outside Wakanda, she had to be very careful about being caught on any cameras, so she was extra cautious everywhere she went. She kept her face down, sunglasses and a hat on to cover her face. She currently sat in a quiet cafe, waiting patiently for her next meeting.

After days of trying, she had finally made contact with the parents of the boy who had become lost and saved by the mysterious man. She waited patiently, while sipping a local coffee blend and enjoying what little sunlight there was in the Romanian winter.

"Excuse me, are you Michelle?" a woman with a thick European accent asked from behind Vielka, making her jump. She turned around carefully, to see a young woman looking at her curiously with a young boy clinging closely to her leg.

" _Da, yes. Are you Mrs Oglatov?"_ she asked in fluent Romanian.

The woman nodded once, before Vielka motioned to the spare seats at her table. She gave a small smile to the little boy, who just clung closer to his mother.

" _Thank you for meeting with me, and to you, Nikolai, how are you?"_

" _You will have to excuse him, he's become a little withdrawn since the ordeal,"_ his mother said solemnly, sighing deeply and rubbing the boy's shoulders. Vielka raised an eyebrow under her hat, but smiled at the mother.

" _Well, shall we begin?"_ Vielka asked, pulling a small camera out to add to the illusion she was indeed producing a documentary.

She sat with the woman and boy for at least an hour, asking questions about the boy, where he was from, how old he was, what he liked and all the minor details to try and earn his and his mother's trust. The boy eventually warmed up to her, telling her all about his hobbies and love of animals. Then she moved onto the more important questions.

" _Nikolai, how did you end up in the forest?"_

Nikolai pursed his lips slightly. He glanced at his mother who nodded encouragingly to him. _"The big boys at school told me the bears in the forest were friendly and that they could pet them. I wanted to pet one too."_

Vielka raised her eyebrows. It was such an innocent answer, if it weren't for her lack of empathy, she might have thought it sweet and quaint. "Oh my."

The mother sighed again and shook her head. _"I blame myself, I should have paid more attention to him."_

Vielka couldn't help but think the exact same thing, but said nothing and smiled in what she hoped was a sympathetic manner. _"So which forest did you go into, and what happened?"_

" _I went into Hola forest, my grandmother lives near there. I went in the late afternoon, but I got lost and it was getting dark."_

" _When did the man find you?"_

" _After dark, I was crying by some rocks and he found me. He gave me some fruit and took me to the edge of the forest and waited with me,and a car came past and saw me. When I turned around to thank him and ask him to come with me to see my mum, he was gone."_

Vielka raised an eyebrow. He had risked a lot by letting the boy see him, and by approaching a road with traffic, but clearly the Sergeant's compassion was working again.

" _What did the man look like? Do you remember?"_

The little boy pursed his lips slightly, looking at his mother, who looked at him pointedly and nudged him. He sighed and began talking again. _"I didn't get to see his face much, but he had a kind, deep voice, he had long hair but wore a baseball hat even though the sun was gone. Oh, and it was really weird, but he only wore one glove. But i held his bare hand and it wasn't cold, so I don't know why he needed gloves?"_

Vielka smirked slightly, before stopping the camera. _"That is very weird. And how are you doing now? Do you still want to pet bears?"_

The boy shook his head vigorously.

* * *

 **It is done! Give me a month to figure out the timeline for the next phase of Forgotten! I'll see you over there!**

 **xo**

 **Krayzee Aussie**


End file.
